More than 150 people attend the 2nd annual scientific symposium IRBLleida

More than 150 people attended the 2nd annual scientific symposium IRBLleida on 16 December, which took place at the Llotja de Lleida. This was an internal scientific symposium in which IRBLleida's research staff presented their research in the form of communications, publications and posters.

The day began with the inauguration by the director of IRBLleida, Diego Arango del Corro, the deputy director general of Research and Innovation in Health, Montserrat Llavayol Giralt, the head of research and innovation at the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital in Lleida, Albert Lecube Torrelló, the president of the Diputació de Lleida, Joan Talarn Gilabert, and the vice-rector of Teaching Staff at the University of Lleida, Francesc Giné de Sola. The director of IRBLleida then presented the institute's results for 2022. He highlighted a total of 368 articles published in 2021 and almost 60% of them in the first quartile of their field of research, which reflects the efforts of the research staff to achieve higher quality objectives; 66 active observational studies and 143 active clinical trials; with a budget that has risen to 7.3 M € and an increase in the generosity of local society by making significant donations for biomedical research with 155 collaborating companies.

The symposium continued with research presentations from each area of IRBLleida. They were:

• Judit Ribas Fortuny, from the Pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacodynamics research group
• Marcelino Bermúdez López, from the vascular and renal translational research group
• Eloi Garí Marsol, from the Cell Cycle group
• Gerard Piñol Ripoll, from the Clinical Neurosciences group
• Elisa Cabiscol Català, from the Biochemistry of oxidative stress group

Afterwards, it was the turn of the 8 outstanding papers, chosen from those that had been previously presented. The symposium took a break for lunch, which also served to review the thirty or so posters presented at the symposium and to talk to their authors. In the afternoon, the day included the presentation of the symposium awards (for the best papers, posters and publications of 2022) and the presentation of certificates to the winners of the different calls of the year.

The day ended with the round table 'The patient's voice', in which three patients from different fields (oncology, neurosciences and respiratory medicine) presented their experience in the field of care and research, moderated by Joan Fernando, a member of the Patient Experience Programme team at the Hospital Clinic, where he is dedicated to managing, exploring and applying for competitive projects dedicated to measuring and improving patient experiences and public participation in the creation and improvement of high-value care services. The experience of the three patients allowed the research staff to gain another perspective.