![](\"http:\/\/raed.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Sin-nombre-1-246x300.png\")
\nThe Royal European Academy of Doctors is more than a hundred\u00a0years\u00a0old.\u00a0Denominated the\u00a0Royal European Academy of Doctors<\/strong>\u00a0(RAED) since\u00a0February 2016, the institution has had various different names during\u00a0its century of existence: Association of Enrolled Doctors of Catalonia (1914-1920), Association of Doctors Enrolled in the University District of Barcelona or simply Association of Doctors (1920-1954), Association of\u00a0Doctors of Catalonia and the Balearic\u00a0Islands or simply Association of Doctors (1954-1990) and Royal Academy of Doctors (1990-2016) (1990-2016).<\/p>\n
The current institution\u2019s initial incarnation was the Association of Enrolled Doctors of Catalonia<\/em>. This was created by a group of university academics close to \u00c1lvaro Esquerdo, a prestigious surgeon of the day, for the then-impending First Congress of Doctors held in Barcelona in 1915. The institution was not formally inscribed in the register of associations of the Civil Government (prefecture) of the Province of Barcelona until 25th<\/sup> May 1919.<\/p>\n \u00c1lvaro Esquerdo \u2013 assisted by his secretary Dr. Guillermo de Benavent \u2013 can therefore be considered as the true founder of this organisation. It was associated with an intense series of cultural events in its early stages, including a solemn session to mark the end of the 1918-1919 academic year, presided over by the Spanish King Alfonso XIII in the Great Hall of the University of Barcelona<\/p>\n The year 1920 saw it change its name to\u00a0Association of Doctors Enrolled in the University District of Barcelona<\/em>, before being officially recognised in 1924 by virtue of a Royal Order issued by the Spanish Ministry of Public Instruction and the Arts.<\/p>\n The Association of Doctors then entered into a long difficult-to-survive period marked by Spain\u2019s subsequent political instability. It registered barely any activity during the Second Republic, and practically disappeared with the Civil War.<\/p>\n It bounced back into existence in 1943, revived by the illustrious chairmanship of Dr. Guillermo de Benavent Camps, assisted by his vice-secretary Dr. Peres Casa\u00f1as. He occupied the prestigious post until his death in 1963. Both men managed between them to revive an Association of Doctors that had suffered from almost two decades of social and political unrest.<\/p>\n The reins were then taken up in 1964 by Dr. Jordi Xifra Heras, who found an Academy of Doctors that had been restored and consolidated, but was nevertheless in need of certain changes. He succeeded in gaining the academic involvement of the most prestigious cultural and scientific figures of the day, while the good offices of Dr. Bermejo, the institution\u2019s secretary, helped bring a sense of order and continuity to its activities.<\/p>\n
![\"rey\"](\"http:\/\/raed.academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Rey.jpg\")
<\/a>Dr. Luis Dolcet Buxeres, who took over the chairmanship in 1977, continued for a further decade to consolidate the brilliant progress of his predecessors; accompanied by a renewed and reforming academic board and against the uplifting background of Spain\u2019s return to full democracy. Various decisive acts vital to the institution\u2019s future were implemented during these years, by\u00a0both Dolcet Buxeres and his successor Dr. Jos\u00e9 Casajuana Gibert, a conscientious man of science with a firm set of beliefs and scholarly knowledge. The year 1989 proved to be of particular relevance, as it was marked by the Academy being recognised as a public entity by Spain\u2019s King Juan Carlos, who awarded it the prefix that allowed it to call itself the Royal<\/em> Academy of Doctors.<\/p>\n