On October 28, the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) held its 17th Research Conference, including the presentation of the ICS Research Awards. In this edition, two professionals from the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) have been awarded.

Young Researcher Award

Dr. Natalia Mendoza, physician in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunodeficiencies Unit at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and principal investigator of the Infection and Immunity in Pediatric Patients group at VHIR, received the Young Researcher Award. The recognition highlights her contribution to advancing health sciences research within the ICS through work of acknowledged scientific excellence.

Dr. Mendoza’s career is distinguished by a combination of scientific excellence, emerging leadership and clinical impact. Her research focuses on antimicrobial stewardship and infections in oncohematology and transplant patients, with particular interest in the development of antimicrobial stewardship (ASP/PROA) programmes in paediatrics, emerging mycoses, new antifungal therapies in children, and improved management of febrile neutropenia.

She has participated as a principal investigator or collaborator in national and international competitive research projects and has coordinated two national clinical practice guidelines. She also co-leads the Young Persons Advisory Group (YPAG-KIDS Vall d’Hebron), which promotes the active participation of children and adolescents in research.

In 2017, Dr Mendoza was awarded an Amics del VHIR predoctoral fellowship, made possible thanks to the financial contributions of the Amics de Vall d’Hebron.

Best Research Article by a Resident Award

Furthermore, Manuel Alanís Bernal, a resident in the Neurology Department at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and a researcher in the Status Epilepticus and Acute Seizures Research Group at VHIR, has been awarded the Best Research Article by a Resident Award for his research entitled “Long-term mortality after status epilepticus: A 5-year analysis study”.

The study, published in the journal Epilepsia, analyses long-term mortality following an episode of non-anoxic status epilepticus, involving 786 adult patients from a prospective clinical cohort, and assesses their survival over a follow-up period of up to five years.

The 17th ICS Research Conference

This year’s 17th ICS Research Conference was devoted to chronicity and healthy ageing, with the aim of sharing advances and research lines being developed across the ICS ecosystem and its research institutes. The event brought together healthcare professionals and researchers to exchange evidence, projects and innovative experiences, while reflecting on the current and future challenges of an increasingly ageing population.

Among other topics, the conference included a roundtable discussion on chronicity research moderated by Dr. Rafael Simó, head of the Diabetes and Metabolism Group at VHIR, with the participation of Dr. Meritxell Bellet, medical oncologist at the Medical Oncology Department of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and researcher in the Breast Cancer group at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).