Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004; Björn O. Nilsson, president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences; Ismail Serageldin, director of the Library of Alexandria and ex-president of the World Bank, and Josep Maria Gil-Vernet, pioneer in numerous urological techniques, emphasized during his admission as honorary academicians of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED), which was held on December 20, the altruistic role of science and the institutions that cultivate it as the key of medical advances.

“Everything comes from the university and from scientific institutions such as this Royal Academy, thanks to this common work, to the transmission of knowledge, we are making great progress. To this day, our life expectancy has increased 30 years in the last century”, Ciechanover said. “Biomedicine has achieved goals that we had never dreamed of, and to get this far it has been fundamental to transmit experiences and time to innovate”, said Nilsson.

Serageldin highlighted the beginnings of medicine in his country. “In Egypt, medicine was born, the brain was named and its components were studied, and the Egyptian Imhotep is to be considered the father of medicine”. Gil Vernet, for his part, highlighted the key role of antibiotics. “After their arrival, operations were achieved that were not possible until then”, he said.