A research by Dr. Javier Cervera, professor at the University of Navarra and clinical partner of the department of Otorhinolaryngology of the University Clinic of Navarra since 1998, has been distinguished with the award 'Conde de Cartagena' of the Royal National Academy of Medicine; the 'Professor García-Tapia' of the Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology; and the 'award of the Academy' of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Salamanca.

The work for which he has obtained these distinctions is part of a broad interuniversity and international project whose purpose is the search for an animal model to test auditory brainstem implants as a step prior to their use in humans. Degree "These implants allow partial recovery of hearing in people with total or severe hearing loss, caused by damage to both auditory nerves, by means of an electrode system that stimulates the cochlear nuclei of the brainstem," explains Dr. Cervera.

These programs of study, based on the research carried out by Javier Cervera in his doctoral thesis , are co-authored by Dr. Manuel Manrique, consultant of department of Otorhinolaryngology of the University Clinic, and Professor Enrique Saldaña, of the University of Salamanca. The preliminary research of the thesis was already awarded the 'Profesor García Tapia' prize in the 1997-1998 academic year.

 

research with other centers

The Departments of Otorhinolaryngology, Neurology and Human Anatomy of the University of Navarra have been working since 1996 on the design of new experimental implants, on the development of surgical techniques for their placement, on the research of electrical stimuli on the nervous system, and on strategies aimed at improving the auditory rehabilitation of these patients receiving the prosthesis.

Researchers from other centers such as the high school de Neurociencias de Castilla-León, the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles (USA) or the Huntington Medical Research Institute in Pasadena (USA), and companies such as GAES (Spain) or Cochlear (Australia) collaborate in these lines of research .

Javier Cervera Paz is graduate in Medicine and Surgery by the University of Cadiz. He did his specialization in Otorhinolaryngology at the University Clinic of Navarra and this year he has obtained the Degree of Doctor in Medicine and Surgery cum laude by the University of Navarra.