Jesús Prieto, Full Professor of the University of Navarra, receives the 2006 Asturian of the Year Award award
The President of the Principality of Asturias presented the award to the specialist of the Clínica Universitaria and the research center Médica Aplicada.
The Full Professor Jesús Prieto Valtueña, specialist of the University Clinic andof the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra, has been awarded the award Asturian of the Year 2006 in the area "Science and research", chosen by the newspaper La Voz de Asturias. The winner received the award from Vicente Alvarez Areces, president of the Principality of Asturias.
Jesús Prieto Valtueña is a specialist in the treatment of hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver tumors. He currently works as a scientific director department of Internal Medicine of the University Clinic and the division of Hepatology and Gene Therapy of research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra.
He finished his programs of study of Medicine at the University of Valladolid, where he was Senior Associate Professor of Medical Pathology. He is currently teaching at the School of Medicine at the University of Navarra.
He joined this institution in 1979, coming from the University of Santiago de Compostela, where he was Full Professor of General Pathology and director of department of Internal Medicine of the General Hospital of Galicia.
In his professional life he has combined the attendance to patients with the medical research , especially oriented to the study of the mechanisms responsible for liver diseases and the development of new treatments to alleviate this subject processes (viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer).
Among the innovations he has contributed is the introduction of liver protective substances in the treatment of acute and chronic liverdiseases . He has pioneered the application of gene therapy for the treatment of malignant liver and digestive tract tumors.
His curriculum includes more than 200 papers of research published in high impact international journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Gastroenterology or Hepatology.
On the other hand, during his career he has held several positions: president of the Spanish association for the Study of the Liver, member of the Scientific committee of the European association for the Study of the Liver, member of the Scientific committee advisor of the French Agency for the research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis, and president of the International committee of the American Society for Gene Therapy. In 2003 he was awarded the doctorate Honoris Causa by the School of Medicine of the University of Porto.