Last Thursday, March 16th, an official visit of representatives of the Scientific and Research Directorate of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) took place at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). This visit is part of the programme that the Scientific and Research Directorate of ICS carries out to get involved with its linked Health Research Centers.

Dr. Dídac Mauricio, Scientific and Research Director of ICS, and Dr. Ricardo Pujol, ICS Research Adviser, were welcomed

by representatives of the different medical institutions:

on behalf of IDIBELL, Dr. Gabriel Capellá, director, Dr. Josep Manuel Menchón, scientific director, Ms. Magda Martín, managing director, and Dr. Marina Rigau, scientific office manager; on behalf of Bellvitge University Hospital, Dr. Montserrat Figuerola, Manager of the Territorial Management of the South Metropolitan Area (GTMS), and Dr. Encarna Grifell, Director of Strategic Planning, Innovation and Evaluation of the GTMS; and on behalf of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, Àngel Vidal, deputy director, and Dr. Josep Ramon Germà, scientific director.

After an introduction of each institutions and a discussion regarding their research, the visitors took a tour of the facilities, including the Translational Research lab 1 (Dr. Miquel Àngel Pujana), the Epigenetics and Cancer biology lab ( Dr. Manel Esteller), the Metabolism and Cancer lab (Dr. George Thomas) and the Pancreatic Transplant Unit (Dr. Eduard Montanya).

The day ended with a meeting with IDIBELL’s Internal Scientific Committee, in which Dr. Dídac Mauricio and Dr. Ricardo Pujol presented the objectives of the ICS Scientific Directorate and the Good Practice Guide, followed by an open discussion with researchers from the IDIBELL, who were able to transfer their reflections and concerns to the Scientific and Research Directorate of ICS.