Numerary Member

Health Sciences: PhD in Medicine and Surgery

Date of admission: March 20, 2024

Admission speech: «Medicine and Cooperation: Closing the Circle with Neurosurgery — A Great Challenge for Developing Countries»

Response speech: H.E. Dr. Teresa Freixes Sanjuán, PhD in Law

Outstanding career: Recognized for his contributions to vascular and skull base neurosurgery, as well as for the development of microsurgical and advanced neuroimaging techniques, he is a leading figure in contemporary Spanish neurosurgery.

Dr. JESÚS LAFUENTE BARAZA

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

  • Dr. Lafuente was born in Zaragoza, Spain. He lived in Barcelona, a city of which he feels deeply proud, and where he studied Medicine at the UAB (Autonomous University of Barcelona), graduating in 1991.
  • After working for a year as a general practitioner during the Barcelona Olympic period, he moved to England to specialize in Neurosurgery. His specialization was mainly carried out at the “National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery” in London, a pioneering center in Neurosurgery.
  • After completing his residency in 2003, he remained at the same center to complete a fellowship in spine surgery and to finish his thesis entitled “Arthroplasty as an Alternative to Arthrodesis in the Treatment of Cervical Spondylosis,” which he defended at the UAB in 2004.

TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

  • This work allowed him to serve as a consultant for Medtronic for four years, traveling internationally to assist and support surgeons with the Bryan disc implantation technique (the first effective cervical arthroplasty).
  • During that period, he also received recognition for the best original work from the CSRS (Cervical Spine Research Society) by winning the prestigious Mario Boni Award for his research on “Association of Apolipoprotein E4 with Spondylotic Myelopathy.”
  • After returning to Spain, he worked as a neurosurgeon in Girona and later moved to Barcelona, where he currently lives and works.
  • He is currently the Director of the Spine Surgery Unit at Hospital del Mar.
  • Once established in Barcelona, Dr. Lafuente joined the “Ethics & Bylaws” Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies for eight years starting in 2005.
  • He has also been a faculty member of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) since 2007, as well as of the Spine Section of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) since 2010.
  • In 2015, he was appointed President-Elect of the EANS, assuming the position of President in 2017, which he still holds. He also serves as President of the Catalan Society of Neurosurgery. His main objective as president is the standardization of undergraduate and postgraduate education worldwide as a first step toward harmonizing the treatment of neurosurgical patients. To achieve this, he leads the Global Neurosurgical Educational Committee, which includes all presidents of the continental neurosurgical societies as well as education officers.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Dr. Lafuente is the author of over 25 papers in indexed journals and more than 10 chapters in specialized books.

→ FULL CURRICULUM VITAE

 

Admission as Numerary Member of the RAED. Speech “La Medicina y la Cooperación, cerrando el círculo con la neurocirugía, un gran reto para los países en desarrollo”

 

Admission as Corresponding Member of the RAED. Speech “De la neurocirugía mística de la antigüedad, a los retos que afrontan en el siglo XXI. Los cambios de paradigma según la evolución de la Neurocirugía en el tiempo”

Acto de ingreso del Dr. Jesús Lafuente Baraza