IRBLleida organises the fourth #SomRecerca conference to highlight the role of patients in biomedical research in Lleida

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Lleida Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida) has organised the fourth #SomRecerca conference, a meeting to reflect on the role of the patient in biomedical research carried out in Lleida. The conference was broadcast on Lleida TV on Thursday 30 March and can now be found online on the IRBLleida Youtube channel. It consists of three conversations between researchers and patients that explain how biomedical research benefits from citizen participation.

Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI) seeks to promote more inclusive research and innovation, where society can be given a voice and listened to so that it can play a more relevant role in all phases of research and innovation. The conference is promoted by the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS) and the Department of Health, and is supported by the Fundació la Caixa and the Diputació de Lleida.

In this fourth edition, we will be able to learn about the research collaboration of a patient who is an expert in stroke, oncology and sleep apnoea. Specifically, we will be able to see the talks of:

• Francesc Purroy Garcia, head of the Neurology service at HUAV and head researcher at IRBLleida, Glòria Arqué Fusté, neuroscientist at IRBLleida and Rocío González Gutiérrez, patient in the neurosciences area.
• Robert Montal Roura, HUAV physician and IRBLleida researcher, and Antoni Badia de la Rosa, cancer patient.
• Ferran Barbé Illa, Territorial Clinical Director of Chronic Respiratory Diseases and head researcher at IRBLleida, and Manel Aguilà Prior, patient in the area of respiratory medicine.

The conference will also include speeches by the deputy director of IRBLleida, Joan Sayós; the Minister of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Manel Balcells y Díaz; the Minister of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Joaquim Nadal y Farreras; the rector of the University of Lleida, Jaume Puy y Llorens; the territorial director of CaixaBank, Josep Mª Gonzalez; the president of the Diputació de Lleida, Joan Talarn i Gilabert, and the Evaluation of the impact of research and innovation responsible for AQUAS, Maite Solans Domènech.

This activity is possible thanks to the collaboration of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology of the Ministry of Science and Innovation.