Yesterday afternoon, the award ceremony was held for the Talents Grants for 2024 and 2025.
Dr Maria José Moreta Saá, a specialist in the Hepatology Department at the Hospital Clínic, presented her project, ‘Characterization of the PD-L1 pathway in decompensated cirrhosis. Relationship with disease progression and the development of complications, and evaluation as a prognostic biomarker’. The study investigates how a pathway in the immune system, called PD-1/PD-L1, influences the progression of decompensated cirrhosis. Understanding its role may help to identify new biological markers and open the door to treatments that strengthen defences and improve survival in people with advanced liver disease. Her project was awarded in the 2024 edition, together with that of Elisabet Ripoll, a nurse at ICEMEQ, who received a La Pedrera-Clínic Nursing Intensification grant for the ‘Nursing intervention to reduce anxiety during the enhanced recovery (ERAS) process for total hip replacement’ project.
In the 2025 edition, the Hospital Clínic Barcelona also received several grants. More specifically, the ‘Tumour immune context and mutational profile as predictors of response to CD19-targeted CAR T-cell therapy in haematological neoplasms’ project by Dr Núria Vidal Robau, from the Pathological Anatomy Department, was awarded a La Pedrera-Clínic research contract. The ‘Continuous glucose monitoring in the intensive care units of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (CGM-UCI23)’ project by Marc Pañero, a nurse at the Hospital Clínic, also received an award.
The event, held at La Pedrera, was attended by the Catalan Minister of Health, Olga Pané; Germán Ramón-Cortés, President of the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera; Marta Lacambra, Director General of the Fundació; Dr Josep Maria Campistol, Director General of the Hospital Clínic Barcelona; Sílvia Cordomí, Managing Director of Bellvitge University Hospital; Dr Jordi Ara, Director of Clinical Research at Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital; and Dr Elena Élez, medical oncologist and clinical researcher at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).
Thirteen years promoting young talent and encouraging research
The Talent Grants were created with the aim of retaining talent in our country and encouraging research. These are post-residency grants for young medical specialists and healthcare professionals considered to be excellent and prominent in their respective fields of specialization, to carry out a research project with the aim of completing a doctoral thesis.
Since 2012, the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera has awarded grants to some 200 professionals, supported more than 170 research projects and contributed to over 150 scientific publications in 30 different medical specialities.
