Raphael Brandao Moreira, M.D.

Raphael Brandao Moreira, MD, is a medical oncologist who treats patients with solid tumors and whose clinical and academic work focuses on immunotherapy, precision oncology, biomarkers, and early cancer detection. He is particularly interested in translating advances in cancer biology and emerging therapies into individualized treatment decisions for patients.

Dr. Brandao Moreira is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), and the American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO). He serves as a Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers in Oncology and as a peer reviewer for multiple scientific journals, including journals in the Nature Portfolio.

He completed his training in internal medicine and medical oncology in Brazil and pursued advanced training in translational oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. During his fellowship training, he received the ASCO Merit Award for three consecutive years, from 2015 through 2017.

Dr. Brandao Moreira has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles. His research has included studies from the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) evaluating outcomes with immune checkpoint inhibitors, as well as a multicenter validation study of a blood-based test for multi-cancer early detection. His broader academic interests include immuno-oncology, biomarkers, personalized cancer treatment, clinical research, and strategies to detect cancer at earlier stages.

In addition to his clinical and academic work, Dr. Brandao Moreira has held several senior leadership positions in oncology. He served as Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Instituto Oncoclínicas in 2017 and, from 2018 to 2020, as National Director of Oncology for UnitedHealth Group/Amil, overseeing oncology programs across Brazil. He later served as Head of Oncology and Hematology at Hospital Moriah and, from 2024 to 2026, as Chief of Oncology for the São Camilo Hospital Network in São Paulo.

Throughout these roles, he helped develop clinical research programs, multidisciplinary cancer services, physician education initiatives, quality-improvement programs, and new models of personalized cancer care. He led the quality-improvement work that made Hospital Paulistano in São Paulo the first hospital in Latin America to earn certification through ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI), and subsequently led the achievement of QOPI certification at Clínicas Oncológicas Integradas (COI) in Rio de Janeiro.

Dr. Brandao Moreira earned his medical degree from Faculdade de Medicina de Valença in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he graduated as class valedictorian.

Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong commitment to direct patient care, emphasizing careful clinical reasoning, multidisciplinary decision-making, clear communication with patients and families, and treatment plans tailored to each patient’s clinical circumstances, needs, and goals.

He sees patients in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Outside the clinic, Dr. Brandão trains Brazilian jiu-jitsu and enjoys spending time with his wife and their three children.

Dr. Brandao Moreira is a medical oncologist who treats adults with cancer. He treats cancers of the kidney, bladder, prostate, and testicles, along with melanoma, sarcoma, and breast, ovarian, cervical, and lung cancers. Much of his work involves immunotherapy, a treatment that helps a patient’s own immune system fight cancer, and finding the treatment most likely to help each individual. He completed advanced training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School and has cared for people with cancer for more than a decade. Dr. Brandão Moreira sees patients in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and takes time to explain the options clearly so that patients and their families can decide together.

Dr. Brandão Moreira’s research asks how molecular data and computational tools change what an oncologist actually does at the bedside.

Much of his published work concerns genitourinary cancers and immune checkpoint inhibitors, including multi-institutional studies through the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC) examining which patients benefit from immunotherapy and which do not.

A second line of work is early detection. He contributed to a multicenter validation study of a blood-based test for multi-cancer early detection and is interested in how such tests can be deployed without over-diagnosing patients who would never have become ill.

A third line is clinical artificial intelligence: decision-support systems built to run inside the electronic health record and help match treatment to the individual patient, rather than tools that work only in a research setting.

He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles.