IRBLleida researcher and dean of Medicine at the UdL, at the Royal Academy of Catalonia

The researcher of the Experimental Neuromuscular Pathology group at IRBLleida and dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lleida (UdL), Anna Casanovas Llorens, has joined the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia (RAMC) as a corresponding academic.

Sponsored by the former rector of the UdL and also a member of the RAMC, Joan Viñas, Casanovas joined the institution in an extraordinary session together with Xavier Bonfill, professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and doctor at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona.

Casanovas, professor of Human Anatomy and Embryology at the UdL since 1999, presented the work La vía de señalización NRG1/ ErbB en la patología de la motoneurona espinal, on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ELA). In his speech, he thanked Josep E. Esquerda, professor at the University of Lleida, for guiding his scientific career. "With him I have learned to work intensely and to enjoy science", he stressed.

On his side, Joan Viñas reviewed the career of Anna Casanovas, whom he met when she was a medical student in Lleida. "She is a person with great dedication to teaching and great empathy with students," Viñas stressed. As for her facet as a researcher, the former rector of the UdL wanted to emphasise that "doing quality research in a small university like the UdL is very important".

In addition to Casanovas, the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia has two more professors from the UdL, in this case as full members: Joan Viñas, in the Surgery section, and Manuel Camps, professor of Legal Medicine, in the Social Medicine section. The corresponding academicians also include Xavier Matias-Guiu, professor of Pathological Anatomy at the UdL.

Text: Press UdL / IRBLleida