The award recognises Dr Dopazo's work in this field and is a tribute to personalised medicine, systems biology and artificial intelligence, which, in the words of the award winner himself, are ‘fundamental aspects for the comprehensive and efficient management of health problems’.
The presentation of the 22nd Burdinola Research Award, held yesterday in the auditorium of the IBiS (Seville Institute of Biomedicine), was presided over by Dr. Rafael Fernández Chacón, scientific director of the IBiS, Mr. Gonzalo Balbontín Casillas, managing director of the Progress and Health Foundation, Dr. Manuel Romero Gómez, professor of medicine at the University of Seville, Mr. Joseba Pineda, president of the Burdinola Awards, and Mr. Lander Ugarte, commercial director of Burdinola S.Coop, who presented the diploma.
Innovative concept of precision preventive medicine
Dr. Dopazo's research has focused on the study of genomic and clinical data through systems biology and artificial intelligence. His goal is to apply medical data to personalised and precision medicine and drug discovery. In particular, his work with retrospective patient data to predict the risk of being diagnosed with cancer or other diseases before symptoms appear is transforming the healthcare system and will enable a shift towards a more preventive model, which will simultaneously be more beneficial for patients and make the healthcare system more sustainable.
Burdinola and the award
At Burdinola, as stated in our mission statement, ‘We develope the safest and most efficient laboratory projects in the world, where researchers enjoy improving society.’ It is precisely this last point, ‘improving society,’ that motivates and inspires Burdinola to continue organising a new edition of the award every year with the same enthusiasm and impact as on the first day in 1993. Since then, Burdinola has maintained its commitment to the scientific community to promote and strengthen the development of science in Spain. The list of winners continues to grow with illustrious names from the Spanish scientific community.
The jury's decision for this edition was announced on 19 September at a meeting held at Burdinola's facilities in Amoroto (Bizkaia), where a committee of seven experts evaluated the nominations submitted, ‘all of which were of high quality and endorsed by important institutions on the national scene’. Among the aspects that motivated the awarding of the prize, the following were considered noteworthy: his pioneering nature in this field, his proven ability to transfer the results of his research to the healthcare system and the field of health, and the formation of a school of researchers of excellence.
