Dr. Suarez is a board-certified pathologist specializing in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, and molecular genetic pathology. He received his M.D. degree, graduating summa cum laude, from the University of the Valley (Universidad del Valle), Cali, Colombia. Following medical school, he worked as a research fellow at a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center investigating patterns of nosocomial antibiotic resistance. He later joined the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), as a postdoctoral research fellow in cancer and lung immunology. Dr. Suarez then returned to clinical practice, completing his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Washington, Seattle, followed by a fellowship in Molecular Genetic Pathology (MGP) at Stanford University. 

After his MGP fellowship, Dr. Suarez joined the Department Pathology at Stanford University, where he was a faculty member for 11 years. During this time, he assumed progressively senior leadership roles within the Stanford Molecular Genetic Pathology Laboratory, ultimately serving as its Director. In parallel, he helped establish and co-direct Stanford’s first Molecular Tumor Board and its first Genetic Testing Stewardship program. While serving in these roles, Dr. Suarez also earned a master’s degree in biomedical informatics from Stanford University.

In 2026, Dr. Suarez joined Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and the Knight Cancer Institute as Director of the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories (KDL)