Page 95 - MemoriaCIBER-2018ENG

Scientific Director’s Presentation
Ferran Barbé Illa.
Dear Friends,
Yet another year I have been given the chance to present the Annual Report of the CIBERES. This could well be one of the most gratifying tasks for me as scientific director,since it allows me to reflect on the present and future of the work done by CIBERES as a research area, based on the data which will be given below.
We continue to work,successfully I believe,
on attaining the strategic objectives which we
set ourselves in 2015. As part of our search for excellence we have submitted the work done in
our lines of research from 2016-2018 for external assessment as well as the new projects for 2019-2021, with very good results in general. Our presence as CIBERES in proposals for international competitive projects has significantly increased over this last year with a more than acceptable success rate.
We have very significantly improved our data on activities for awareness-raising and visibility of our scientific results and must continue to do so, and we have worked on the policy for collaboration schemes and alliances with some very positive casesinpoint,suchastheTrainingDaysarranged along with CIBERONC.
There is still work to be done, which we will attempt to complete over the next few months, including increasing the participation of patients’ associations at our centre, giving them a chance to support, express opinions and have a positive influence on scientific strategy; obtaining an evaluation and advice on our work from the External Advisory Scientific Committee,as well as considering its
renovation and opening up new lines of research in accordance with our groups’ scientific capabilities and with international trends in research into respiratory diseases and society’s demands.
We have a thrilling year ahead of us in 2019 in which to go on undertaking our research work. I am sure that by working on our collaborative activity we will attain the aims that we have set ourselves and improve our results, thus feeding back into society the trust and resources that it provides us with.
Before finishing I would like to express my heartfelt remembrance of the three researchers who sadly left us in 2018: Dr. Antoni Xaubet,an active researcher in the diagnosis and treatment of diffuse interstitial diseases, especially in pulmonary fibrosis; Dr. Joaquín Terán Santos,coordinator of the Sleep Unit of the Hospital Universitario de Burgos, a pioneer in the study of sleep pathology in Spain and creative force behind what is now the Spanish Sleep Network,and Dr. José Antonio Melero,a researcher at the Centro Nacional de Microbiología of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, a national
and international benchmark in research into respiratoryviruses. Allthreeofthemhavehanded down an example of dedication and excellence in work which should act as inspiration for our activity in the coming years.
I would like to close this text with my thanks to all the members of CIBERES, contracted and attached staff and collaborators, as well as the personnel of the CIBER Technical Office, for the excellent work done by them in 2018.
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CIBERES | ANNUAL REPORT 2018