About the VHIR
Here at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) we promote biomedical research, innovation and teaching. Over 1,800 people are seeking to understand diseases today so the treatment can be improved tomorrow.
Research
We are working to understand diseases, to find out how they operate and to create better treatments for patients. Get to know about our groups and their lines of research.
People
People are the centre of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). This is why we are bound by the principles of freedom of research, gender equality and professional attitudes that HRS4R promotes.
Clinical trials
Our work is not just basic or translational; we are leaders in clinical research. Enter and find about the clinical trials we are conducting and why we are a world reference in this field.
Progress
Our aim is to make the research carried out at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) a driving force for transformation. How? By identifying new channels and solutions for the promotion of people's health and well-being.
Core facilities
We offer specialist support for researchers, internal and external alike, ranging from specific services to preparing complete projects. All this, from a perspective of quality and speed of response.
News
We offer you a gateway for staying up to date on everything going on at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), from the latest news to future solidarity activities and initiatives that we are organising.
The Research group on Aging, Frailty and Care Transitions in Barcelona (REFiTBcn) stems from the expertise of healthcare professionals of Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili. The group focuses on clinical epidemiology of aging and implementation science of innovative and integrated complex interventions, with the final aim of improving quality of life of older adults, from prevention and promotion of healthy aging to management of frailty.
The main research line include: cardiovascular risk, cognitive impairment and mobility disability; shared decisions and individualized management to improve rehabilitation of stroke and cancer survivors; management of delirium; integrated care in the community to prevent disability or to improve homecare.
The group maintains top-level international collaborations with Swedish, Canadian, Italian and US centres.
This line includes projects focused on frailty, on the association between cognitive function, cognitive impairment and physical function, or on exercise and physical activity, either from a clinical, pathophysiological or epidemiological viewpoint, as well as focused on the implementation, in the real context, of new models of care.
Ongoing projects: MEDPHOTAGE (non-invasive measurement of blood flow and cerebral metabolism during cognitive and physical tests, funded by the Carlos III Institute, DTS, in collaboration with the Institute of Photonic Sciences - ICFO), DIALCAT (diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, multi-centric observational and intervention project, funded by RIS3Cat-FEDER), + ÀGIL Bcn (implementation of a complex community intervention to prevent disability in frail older people, self-financed in collaboration with the Catalan Health Institute - ICS).
IP: Marco Inzitari
This line is cross-sectional to the others, based on qualitative methods of assessing the experience and involvement of the person, their caregivers, and of the professionals, in the case of the implementation of complex interventions
The main objective of this line of research is to apply high intensity focused ultrasound in order to produce cavitation phenomena (histotripsy) producing mechanical destruction of tumor tissue without the need to introduce any needle and without using ionizing radiation.
This line of research, of a transversal nature, was created with the aim of performing our own research or in collaboration with research groups at the Valle de Hebron Campus that wish to introduce high-intensity focused ultrasound, both in the field of basic, translational and clinical research.
The immunological response generated by histotripsy means that we need to study its close relationship with immunotherapy and also study the beneficial effects on liquid biopsy. We also want to study the effects of focused ultrasound on the alteration of the blood-brain barrier and explore its applications in neurological pathology.?
IP: Xavier Serres Créixams
IP: - Collaborators: - Funding agency: Fundació Institut de Recerca HUVH Funding: 15000 Reference: VHIR-FIT-2025-002 Duration: 01/07/2025 - 30/06/2026
IP: Eva Llarch Pinell Collaborators: - Funding agency: Fundació Privada Mutuam Conviure Funding: 6000 Reference: MUTUAM/LLARCH/2024 Duration: 01/01/2025 - 01/01/2026
IP: Mariona Esquerdo Barragán Collaborators: Rafael José Navajo Garrido, Judit Domingo Prim, María Garrido Martínez, Alejandra de la Cruz Trillo, Gabriela Isabel Fuentes Llopis, Marco Inzitari, Nunzio Gennaro Cifariello Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III Funding: 408900 Reference: PT23/00052 Duration: 01/01/2024 - 31/12/2026
PhD student: Lorena Villa García Director/s: Marco Inzitari , Ester Risco Vilarasau University: Year: 2024
PhD student: Joan Ars Ricart Director/s: Marco Inzitari University: Year: 2024
PhD student: Neus Gual Tarrada Director/s: Marco Inzitari , Albert Selva O'Callaghan University: Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona Year: 2019
PhD student: Alicia Calle Egusquiza Director/s: Marco Inzitari University: Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona Year: 2018
The event brought together experts from the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR) and the Institute of Geosciences of Barcelona to analyze how environmental factors and the climate crisis impact population health.
ISMED-CLIM is a European project coordinated by the University of Cyprus and has 27 partners from 11 countries, including the Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili and the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, which lead the regional working group.
It is part of the PROFIT Project (Personalizing the Approach to Frail Oncology Patients through Assessment and Individualized Intervention), an innovative initiative focused on providing comprehensive care for oncology patients experiencing frailty.
