Supernumerary Academician

Health Sciences: Doctor of Medicine

Date of admission: October 26, 2010

Admission speech: “Typical Topics and Mundane Expectations of Alzheimer’s Disease”

Reply by: Dr. Josep Llort Brull

Dr. RAFAEL BLESA GONZÁLEZ

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

ACADEMIC AND TEACHING ACTIVITY

  • Consultant, Neurology Department, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona (1982–2003).
  • Research Fellow, Experimental Therapeutic Branch, NINDS-NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA (1989–1991).
  • Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona (UB) (1989–2003).
  • Founder of the Memory Unit at Hospital Clínic (1993).
  • Creator of the PICOGEN program (2000).
  • Head of the Neurology Department at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona (2003).
  • Interim Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, UAB (2017).
  • Accredited for the position of Associate Professor by ANECA (2014).
  • Accredited as Full Professor by the Agency for the Quality of the University System of Catalonia (AQU) (2015).
  • Numerary Member of the Royal European Academy of Doctors (RAED) (2010).
  • Corresponding Member of the American Neurological Association.
  • Corresponding Member of the American Academy of Neurology.
  • His research focuses on the standardization and validation of dementia scales and tests, the development of new therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s patients, the study of genetic risk factors and mutations involved in neurodegenerative dementias, the identification of cerebral Amyloid–Tau biomarkers through Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Alzheimer’s disease in Down syndrome.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

  • Spanish Delegate to the World Federation of Neurology and the European Board of Neurology (1996–2001).
  • President of the Catalan Society of Neurology (2003–2004).
  • Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Pharmacological Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Government of Catalonia (2002–2006).
  • Chairman of the XVIII Alzheimer Disease International Conference (ADI), Barcelona (2002).
  • Member of the Medical and Scientific Committee of Alzheimer Disease International (since 1994).
  • President of the National Alzheimer Conference (2001).

PUBLICATIONS

  • Author of 2 books.
  • 37 book chapters.
  • Over 230 papers published in peer-reviewed journals with impact factor.