Awards and scholarships
Francisco Sánchez Madrid awarded the Santiago Ramón y Cajal National Prize
Francisco Sánchez Madrid received the Santiago Ramón y Cajal National Prize in the area of Biology. Dr. Sánchez Madrid is a group leader at the CNIC and a Full Professor in Immunology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) and heads the Immunology Service at Hospital Universitario La Princesa. The committee awarded the prize to Sánchez Madrid in recognition of his contributions to biomedicine in the field of leukocyte intercellular communication, adhesion, migration, and activation and the impact his work has had on the study of chronic inflammatory diseases. These achievements, together with his high international profile throughout his scientific career, his outstanding record of training and mentoring young Spanish scientists, and the biotechnological applications of his discoveries, amply justify this award. The National Prizes for Research, created in 1982, are the highest award in Spain for scientific research.
Dr. Valentín Fuster receives the prestigious Premio Príncipe Mahidol for his scientific contributions to medicine
CNIC General Director Dr. Valentín Fuster received the 29th Premio Anual Prince Mahidol in the area of Medicine. This prestigious award from the Prince Mahidol Foundation recognizes the international leadership shown by Dr. Fuster over the past 40 years through his innovative contributions to cardiovascular medicine, spanning basic research to clinical care, and more recently his tireless promotion of cardiovascular health throughout the world. The committee noted the “value of Dr. Fuster’s research in unifying and extending knowledge gained through basic research to bring new benefits to patients, especially regarding antiplatelet therapy. His exceptional contribution has saved millions of lives throughout the world.” Five previous winners of this prize later went on to win the Nobel Prize.
Dr. Fuster is also the first Spanish scientist with a Webometrics classification. This measure, established by the cybermetrics group at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), is based on the h index, one of the most widely used tools to determine the influence of discoveries over a scientist’s professional career. This parameter was defined by the physicist Jorge Hirsch to provide a single measure of the quality of an investigator’s findings.
Guadalupe Sabio receives the ‘Young Investigator Award’ from the European Society for Clinical Investigation
The European Society for Clinical Investigation awarded CNIC scientist Guadalupe Sabio its ‘Young Investigator Award’, which recognizes the achievements of young research scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to basic, translational, or clinical biomedical research in Europe.
Borja Ibáñez wins the ‘Young Talent’ prize in the Premios Constantes y Vitales for biomedical research
Dr. Borja Ibáñez Cabeza, Director of Clinical Research at the CNIC, was awarded the ‘Young Talent’ Prize in the 6th edition of the Premios Constantes y Vitales for biomedical research and disease prevention, an initiative of the laSexta television channel and the Fundación AXA. These prestigious awards aim to recognize, support, and strengthen the achievements of Spanish scientists working in the areas of biomedical research and disease prevention during 2020, an especially challenging year that demonstrated the importance of this work more than ever. The prize comes with a financial award of €100,000 to support ongoing research projects.
Dr. Miguel Torres named an honorary member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences
The Latin American Academy of Sciences (ACAL) has named Dr. Miguel Torres an honorary member in recognition of the alignment of his work with the Academy’s goals. These goals are high-quality research, scientific progress, and the integration of Latin America and the Caribbean through cooperation in research. Dr. Torres and fellow honorary member Dr. Ángela Nieto are the first Spanish investigators to join ACAL, whose mission is to promote and contribute to the progress of the mathematical, physical, chemical, life, and earth sciences and their use to support the human, cultural, and social integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Dr. Valentín Fuster awarded the Mujerhoy ‘Premio al Compromiso Masculino’ (Men’s commitment prize) for the ‘Mujeres por el Corazón’ (Women for the Heart) campaign
Dr. Valentín Fuster received the Mujerhoy ‘Premio al Compromiso Masculino’ for his health promotion work to raise awareness among women of their vulnerability to cardiovascular disease. Since 2014, Dr. Fuster has led the ‘Mujeres por el corazón’ campaign, a joint effort of Fundación Mapfre, the Pro-CNIC Foundation, the Community of Madrid, and the Spanish Heart Foundation. The campaign aims to raise awareness of women’s cardiovascular risk so that symptoms can be recognized early and to promote healthy lifestyle habits.
The SEC annual meeting holds its first sessions dedicated to basic and translational cardiovascular research
In its 2020 congress, the Spanish Society of Cardiology for the first time included sessions dedicated to basic and translational cardiovascular research. Several CNIC scientists were among the participants, including Héctor Bueno, Miguel Ángel del Pozo, Fátima Sánchez-Cabo, José Javier Fuster, Andrés Hidalgo, Miguel Torres, Guadalupe Sabio, David Filgueiras, and José Jalife.
CNIC named one of the 4 leading cardiovascular research centers in Europe at the 2020 European Society of Cardiology Congress
The CNIC was one of only 4 leading centers in cardiovascular research to be invited to showcase itself in a live session at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) annual meeting, which in 2020 set a new record of more than 115,000 participants from 211 countries. The CNIC joined in the ‘Leading Cardiovascular Research Centres in Europe’ session by Oxford University, the Stockholm Karolinska Institute, and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.
Science week 2020: A talk on COVID-19 for children and their families
As part of Semana de la Ciencia (Science Week) 2020, the CNIC organized an event for children at which Dr. Miguel Ángel del Pozo spoke about the science behind SARS-CoV-2 infection and the body’s immune response to it.
LaLiga joins the Pro-CNIC Foundation in the fight against cardiovascular disease
LaLiga and the Pro-CNIC Foundation have joined forces to promote awareness among football fans about the importance of cardiovascular disease prevention, taking care of one’s heart, and avoiding bad habits like physical inactivity and smoking, which are major causes of diseases that affect the heart. The 2 organizations have launched the Cuida tus latidos campaign (Take care of your heartbeats; www.cuidatuslatidos.com), which provides soccer fans with information on how to prevent serious cardiovascular conditions like a heart attack.
Visiting Researchers Program: The Jesús Sierra Foundation finances Dr. Gabriel Núñez's stay at the CNIC
The Jesús Serra Foundation, part of the Catalana Occidente Group, financed Dr. Gabriel Núñez’s stay at the CNIC during 2020. Dr. Núñez is professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan (USA). This scholarship is part of its Visiting Researchers program and aims to promote interaction in the field of research to contribute to advances in science.
Promoted by the Jesús Serra Foundation with different Spanish institutions since 2009, the Visiting Researchers program finances the stay of renowned scientists of international prestige so that they can travel to Spanish research centers and stay several months. Its purpose is that the visiting researcher can, on the one hand, deepen the scientific relationship of the host research group with that of the researcher’s own center of origin, and, on the other, start new lines of action based on innovative scientific interests.
Dr. Núñez is recognized as one of the leading experts in gastrointestinal and systemic inflammation, host-microbe interactions, and mucosal immunology.
