The ESCI awarded the award to the physician in recognition of " excellence and leadership in the translational research of metabolic diseases". Dr. Frühbeck's curriculum also highlights the position as president of the European Society for the Study of Obesity (EASO), a position she has held since 2012 and in which she will remain for a period of 3 years. She is also a member of the CIBERobn (research center Biomedical network) on the physiopathology of obesity and nutrition and director of the laboratory of research Metabolic of the department of Endocrinology and Nutrition of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

Dr. Frühbeck received the medal from ESCI President, Professor Piero Portincasa, at the congress of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI), held recently in Albufeira (Portugal).

According to the committee of selection of the award, this distinction "is submission for outstanding achievements in the field of research Clinical, following the line of the founders of the ESCI", entity constituted in 1967. The name of the award alludes to one of the founders of the society, Professor Albert Struyvenberg, "who achieved clinical excellence in the fields of science, teaching and training of young scientists and medical specialists" and whose face is engraved on the medal. The main objectives of the European Society of Clinical research lie in the dissemination of knowledge and in the understanding of the mechanism of disease.

Cooperation between research basic and clinical
For the award-winning researcher, receiving the award was "a great satisfaction, as it is a very prestigious distinction. For me it is particularly special, since the European Society of Clinical research has precisely the profile that I have liked to follow as a medical professional and as a basic researcher ".

Dr. Frühbeck points out that the translational orientation of the research "had already been coined by the ESCI before the concept of 'research translational' was generally implemented. From the beginning, the Society's congresses had this approach in which basic science - supported, for example, by animal and tissue models, molecular biology techniques or advanced histological procedures - is combined with the clinical perspective, what specialists see at enquiry. ESCI has always tried to bring these two areas together for the benefit of the patient".

Professionally, the Clinic specialist recalls that she attended the first of the Society's congresses as a recent doctoral candidate. "I was introduced and grew professionally with the ESCI, so receiving its maximum award is a great joy for me".

For a lifetime achievement
The 'Albert Struyvenberg' medal is awarded to a solid career at research that especially brings together the two areas mentioned above, clinical and basic. "Nowadays, multidisciplinary teams are sought that are united by a 'bridge' person, capable of understanding the language of the two areas and of integrating efforts and knowledge so that synergies are established that result in the maximum benefit for patients," the researcher points out.

During the congress, on the occasion of the awarding of the award, Dr. Frühbeck presented a lecture on"The connection between basic and clinical research to approach the complex puzzle of obesity". "I thought it was appropriate to present obesity as a puzzle, since it is a complex, multifactorial disease, of which we do know some pieces, but others are missing. To solve a puzzle there are different strategies. We can put together pieces with the same characteristics, because it is assumed that they will be placed in the same area, or we can pay attention to their shape. The metaphor responds to the fact that in research we also have different strategies to try to fill in that puzzle that constitutes obesity". 

According to the researcher, at present the puzzle of this disease "is quite complete, while we continue to be surprised as we investigate. We are witnessing the identification of new factors related to the control of body weight and appetite practically every week", quotation among others. However, "although we don't have all the pieces that make up obesity, it is true that we do have a glimpse of some pretty sure things," he says. 

The partnership between the professionals in charge of the basic research and those who develop the clinical research is necessary to advance in results, an issue that can only be achieved, "thanks to a great team of professionals, both the clinicians of the Obesity Unit and the basic researchers who make up the laboratory of research Metabolic . Without all this wealth of professionals we have at the Clinic, these advances would be impossible", warned Dr. Frühbeck. A model multidisciplinary of which she was proud and in which, she emphasized, "the Clinic is a pioneer".