The cardiovascular surgeon of the University Clinic of the University of Navarra, Jesús Herreros, has been named 'Torrelaveguense Ilustre 2002'. This distinction, awarded by group Quercus, goes to the surgeon who performed the first stem cell transplant in Spain. This degree scroll has also been awarded to the actor Antonio Resines, the judge of the National Court Siro García, the filmmaker Manuel Gutiérrez de Aragón and the cyclist Óscar Freire. The award recognizes the professional career of those born in Torrelavega (Cantabria) and who have achieved prominence beyond the local or regional level.

Jesús Herreros performed his first heart transplant in 1984, the first cardiomyoplasty in Spain in 1991 and, on February 6, 2002, the first stem cell transplant in the country. He is co-director of department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, and is a member of 15 scientific societies, 11 of them international, and of committee publishing house of 11 scientific journals. Between 1995 and 2000 he was head of the Cardiac Surgery Service and Senior Associate Professor of the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid.

In addition, this professor at the University of Navarra is the author of 27 books, 410 articles in scientific publications and 510 presentations at conferences.