Alejandra received a MD as Medical Surgeon from the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM). She also graduated with honors from the Master of Sciences in Epidemiology in the same university. Before completing her master’s degree, she participated in a 6-month research internship with the University of Oxford in the Nuffield Department of Population Health under the mentorship of Prof. Jonathan Emberson and Louisa Gnatiuc collaborating in the Mexico City Prospective Study. 

While pursuing his master’s degree and until December 2019 she worked as a researcher in the Functional Unit of Thoracic Oncology of the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INCan) of Mexico. Since 2016 she became professor at the Faculty of Medicine of UNAM and since 2017 member of the National System of Researchers of Mexico (CONACyT). During the pandemic, Alejandra, cooperated with the Regional Office of the Pan American Health Organization in collaboration with the General Directorate of Epidemiology in Mexico as Epidemiological Advisor. 

Alejandra is member of the Mexican Society of Public Health as well as from the Society of Health Economics and Outcomes Research. She is also member of the Editorial Board from the Mediastinum. 

Currently, Alejandra is enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh under the mentorship of Dr. Emma Barinas-Mitchell, PhD. 

Alejandra´s research interests focus on in molecular epidemiology of chronic diseases (e.g., oncological, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases). 

Select presentations

• 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC, 2017), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Yokohama, Japan. Oct 15-18, 2017. Papers presented (MA.08-10, P1.01-019, P2.01-070, P3.14-012). Available at: WCLC 2017- (Yokohama, Japan) 

• 20th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC, 2018), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Montreal, Canada. Sep 24-29, 2018. Available at: (WCLC 2018-Montreal,Canada) 

• World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC, 2019), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Barcelona Spain. Sep 7-10, 2019. Available at: (WCLC 2019-Barcelona, Spain) 

Select publications 

• Arrieta O, Barrón F, Ramírez-Tirado LA, Zatarain-Barrón ZL, Cardona AF, DíazGarcía D et al. Efficacy and Safety of Pembrolizumab Plus Docetaxel vs Docetaxel Alone in Patients with Previously Treated Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: The PROLUNG Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol. 2020 Apr 9. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2020.0409. 

• Arrieta O, Barrón F, Salinas Padilla MA, Avilés-Salas A, Ramírez-Tirado LA, et al. Effect of Metformin Plus Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Compared with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Alone in Patients With Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Mutated Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncol. Published online September 5, 2019. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.2553. 

• Ramírez-Tirado LA, Uribe-Ortiz CE, Arrieta O, Tirado-Gómez LL. Lung cancer mortality and municipal marginalization in Mexico, 1998-2016. Salud Publica Mex. 2019 May-Jun;61(3):249-256. doi: 10.21149/10083. 

• Ramírez- Tirado LA, Tirado-Gómez LL, López-Cervantes M. Inequality in primary care interventions in maternal and child health care in Mexico. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2014 Apr;35(4):235-41. Spanish.