Dr Vassallo studied Medicine at Imperial College London, completing an intercalated BSc in Pharmacology and a research exchange at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. After qualifying in 2017, he undertook internal medicine training in south London and a senior clinical fellowship in haematology at King’s College Hospital, before being awarded an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Bristol. During haematology training in the Severn Deanery, he developed an interest in haematological malignancies and translational cancer research.

He has since joined the CCRP and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board as a Clinical Research Fellow, supporting early phase trials in haematological cancers. Alongside his clinical work, he is pursuing an MD(Res) at Cardiff University, researching the role of RNA binding proteins in acute myeloid leukaemia as potential therapeutic targets and prognostic markers.