The association European Association for the Study of the Liver (European Association for the Study of the Liver, EASL) has granted its"Recognition Award" (award de Reconocimiento) to Dr. Jesús Prieto Valtueña, director of the area of Gene Therapy and Hepatology of the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra. Dr. Prieto is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Hepatology at the University of Navarra. Clínica Universidad de Navarra and professor of the School of Medicine of the same university institution, received this award in the heart of the congress International Liver Congress that has been celebrated in Amsterdam. This year, the EASL makes submission of the award to four hepatologists "in recognition of their care and research work in the field of hepatology," explains the organization. The other three researchers awarded are Dr. Didier Lebrec (France), Dr. Andrew Burroughs (United Kingdom) and Dr. Yun-Fan Law (Korea).

For Dr. Prieto, the award is an international recognition that, as he points out, "would not have been possible without the work coordinated over many years of the people who make up the department of Internal Medicine of the Clinic and the area of Hepatology and Gene Therapy of the CIMA". The professor emphasizes that "it is very difficult to make relevant contributions to translational medical research without teamwork". The recognition, he said, is, in final, "a manifestation of the consideration that the Hepatology Unit of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra deserves for the whole of the international academic community ". 

Curriculum vitae

graduate (1967) and PhD (1969) in Medicine from the University of Valladolid, Dr. Prieto is a specialist of the department Internal Medicine and Hepatology Unit of the Clinic. He is also director of the Hepatology and Gene Therapy Division of the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) and coordinator of the research center Biomedical at network of Liver and Digestive Diseases (CIBER-EHD).

He has been Full Professor of General Pathology at the University of Santiago de Compostela and since 1979 he is Full Professor of the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra. She is honorary doctor by the University of Oporto and by the Austral University (Argentina). He has received numerous awards, including the "Cándida Medrano de Merlo" and the "Gran award Bial" for his contributions on gene therapy in liver cancer.

Among the contributions made by the group of Hepatology and Gene Therapy of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and CIMA over the last 30 years, Dr. Prieto highlights the following:"To have contributed to a better knowledge of the molecular mechanisms causing primary biliary cirrhosis; to have identified the anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective properties of a cytokine called cardiotrophin-1, highlighting its role as a potential treatment for acute liver damage; having developed the concept that deficiency of a hormone, called IGF-I, alters the regenerative capacity of the liver and that treatment with this molecule is beneficial for improving liver function in cirrhotic patients; having pioneered the application of gene therapy to the treatment of liver tumors and to the correction of hereditary metabolic diseases affecting the liver, such as acute intermittent porphyria. We have also worked extensively in the field of viral hepatitis, mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis and in the treatment of liver cancer by means of radioembolization systems".