The Conference has allowed issues such as the effect of confinement on different population groups to emerge, the effect on minors with mental illnesses, the increase in their severity, and the earlier onset of eating disorders. This meeting also focused on mental health research from new perspectives because, to prevent disorders and improve the quality of life of those affected, it is necessary to improve their treatments.
According to Núria Radó, a technician from the ICS Innovation and Research Support Office and a member of the Conference’s Scientific Committee, “We want to generate a debate on mental health because we find ourselves in a reality that has changed. Although the confinement is over, we are no longer in previous data and the investigation has a challenge in how to address this.” It is also necessary to take on new challenges to find out why, after three years of the pandemic, many of the mental health indicators have still not decreased.
Some of the research proposals that have been made during the Conference deal with the efficacy of new technologies in therapeutics, the incorporation of large-scale automated analysis, and how big data analysis has revolutionized the approach to biomarker studies, the personalization of treatments, research in pediatric mental health and the role of primary care in the detection of mental health pathologies.
The ICS Innovation and Research Support Office and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have overseen organizing this year, which, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, has been held at the University Hospital of Bellvitge.
The Catalan Health Institute carries out great scientific activity with more than 4,500 articles published in indexed journals with an impact factor in 2021 with nearly 1,500 research projects. The research is carried out through seven health research institutes integrated into the organization’s hospitals and primary care teams: the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), which manages the research carried out in the hospitals of Bellvitge and Viladecans; the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR); the Germans Trias i Pujol Health Sciences Research Institute (IGTP) of Badalona; the Lleida Biomedical Research Institute (IRBLleida); the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), which manages research at the Joan XXIII University Hospital in Tarragona and the Virgen de la Cinta Hospital in Tortosa; the Girona Dr. Josep Trueta Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), and the Jordi Gol Primary Care Research Institute (IDIAPJGol). Four of these institutes -VHIR, IDIBELL, IGTP, and IRBLleida- are accredited by the Carlos III Health Institute as health research institutes.
Research Awards
Research Career Award at ICS Hospitals 2022 – Enriqueta Felip (VHIO) and Ferran Barbé (IRB Lleida)
Enriqueta Felipe has a degree in Medicine and Surgery and a PhD in Medicine and Surgery, Head of the Section of the Oncology Service of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Head of the Thoracic Tumors and Head and Neck Cancer Group of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). Currently, she is also president of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), among other positions.
Co-author of more than 250 manuscripts in international indexed journals, Felipe has contributed significantly to cancer research, with relevant international research, especially in the field of thoracic tumors, and has collaborated in the development of lung cancer approaches that define the current standard of care for the disease. Her lines of research include the optimization of immunotherapy in localized lung cancer, the evaluation of new drugs and combinations in thoracic tumors, and the identification of biomarkers in immunotherapy treatments, to achieve personalized treatments.
Ferran Barbé has a degree in Medicine, specializing in pulmonology at the Bellvitge University Hospital in Barcelona, and a doctorate from the University of Barcelona. He has had a long professional career, both healthcare and scientific, and is currently the territorial clinical director of Respiratory Diseases in Lleida, full professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Lleida, and scientific director of the CIBER for respiratory diseases. The main lines of research that he has developed and led have focused on obstructive sleep apnea, non-invasive mechanical ventilation, and, recently, the evolution of patients with severe disease due to SARS-CoV-2.
Career Investigator Award ICS Primary Education 2022 – Josep Franch (IDIAPJGol)
Specialist in Family and Community Medicine (1990), Primary Care doctor at EAP Raval Sud-Drassanes since 1991. Doctor of Medicine and Surgery. He received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award in 1991. He is also an associate professor at the Department of Medicine of the University of Barcelona – Campus Clínic since 1995 and since 2011 he coordinates the DAP.cat Research Group at the University Institute for Primary Care Research Foundation of Health Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol)
ICS 2022 Nursing Research Career Award – Cristina Rey (IDIAPJGol)
Nurse, social and cultural anthropologist, and doctor in biomedicine from the Rovira i Virgili University (URV). She has been an ICS worker since 2004 as a primary and community care nurse. Her main lines of research have been on public health and preventive activities. Principal Investigator (PI) of the Research Group on Information and Communication Technologies in Primary Care (TICs-AP), accredited by the Jordi Gol i Gurina Institute for Primary Care Research (IDIAPJGol) since 2018. In the last 5 years, 20+ posts with 150+ citations are attributed. Principal investigator of different projects financed in competitive calls such as the TOBBSTOP, TOBBGEST, and Smartwatch projects. Professor at the Rovira i Virgili University and the Nursing School of the Sea (ESIMar-UPF).
ICS Young Researcher Award 2022 – Raquel Pérez-López (VHIO)
With a degree in Medicine, she trained as a radiologist at the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge. She continued her training at the Royal Marsden Hospital and at the Institute of Cancer Research in London (UK) where she completed a fellowship in oncology imaging and an MD. Currently, she leads the Radiomics Research Group at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology. The group’s efforts are focused on advancing precision imaging in personalized medicine, toward improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients.
Each Award has a financial endowment of 10,000 euros of which at least 50% must be dedicated to the research of the research group through the research institute linked to the corresponding ICS center. If there is more than one winner, the amount of the Prize will be divided among them into equal parts.
Awards for the best articles
Award for the Best Research Article in Health Sciences prepared by a Professional from the ICS 2022 Resident Program: High neutrophilo-lymphocyte (IRB Lérida).
Award for the Best Research Article in Health Sciences prepared by a Researcher or Predoctoral Researcher of the ICS and the Related Research Institutes 2022: Association between covid-19 vaccination, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and risk of immune-mediated neurological events: population-based cohort and self-controlled case series analysis, by Berta Raventós Roca (IDIAP Jordi Gol).
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).