| Awardname: | Abarca Prize |
| Abarca Prize | |
| Awarded For: | Biomedical research of global significance |
| Sponsor: | Fundación de Investigación HM Hospitales |
| Country: | Spain |
| Established: | 2021 |
| Website: | https://www.abarcaprize.com/ |
| Subheader: | Doctor Juan Abarca International Award for Medical Sciences |
| Reward: | 100,000 € |
The Doctor Juan Abarca International Award in Medical Sciences, known as the Abarca Prize, is an award that recognises research and innovation through a biomedical finding of global significance.[1] [2]
Created in 2020 by the Fundación de Investigación HM Hospitales, it is awarded to the scientific or medical career of a person who has made a significant contribution to the protection, improvement or rehabilitation of people's health.[3]
The award, endowed with 100,000 euros,[4] is inspired by the Spanish surgeon Juan Abarca Campal, founder of HM Hospitales.[5] The jury, appointed by the Fundación de Investigación HM Hospitales, is made up of members of the scientific community.
The first edition of the award was held in October 2021. The award ceremony was chaired by King Felipe VI.[6] The jury was headed by Alberto Muñoz, professor at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas de Madrid (IIBM) and included Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, Silvia G. Priori, scientific director of the ICS Maugeri Hospital,[7] palaeoanthropologist Juan Luis Arsuaga, and Federico de Montalvo, former president of the Spanish Bioethics Committee. The Abarca Prize was awarded to Professor Jean-Laurent Casanova for his findings in the field of human infections and the genetic variations that affect a person's ability to fight them. Dr. Casanova is a researcher at Rockefeller University Hospital in New York and director of the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics and Infectious Diseases.
In 2022 the prize was awarded to Professor Philippe J. Sansonetti of the Pasteur Institute for his research on Shigellosis or bacillary dysentery. [8] This diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Shigella causes thousands of deaths annually in developed countries, mainly affecting children.[9] The jury was composed of Professors Juan Luis Arsuaga, Silvia Priori, Jean-Laurent Casanova and Federico de Montalvo, and was chaired by Professor Alberto Muñoz, from the Institute of Biomedical Research of Madrid (IIB- CSIC).[10] The award was presented by the Spanish Secretary of State for Health, Silvia Calzón.[11]
Professor Douglas A. Melton, won the III Abarca Prize in its 2023 call, for his advances towards a cure for diabetes.[12] Douglas A. Melton is co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, a Howard Hughes Institute of Medicine investigator and an investigator at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.[13]
Melton's research has pioneered the process of converting stem cells into insulin-producing beta cells, which would enable cell replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes.[14] The award was presented by the Spanish Minister of Health, José Miñones.[15]
The immunologist Carl H. June, director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded the fourth prize for the discovery of a revolutionary therapy for treating blood cancers based on cellular engineering.[16] The CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor) cell therapy harnesses the body's own immune system to fight cancer.[17] Carl H. June is the Richard W. Vague Professor of Immunotherapy at the Vague School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2024, his scientific team is working to apply this treatment to other solid neoplasms, autoimmune diseases (such as lupus) and other non-oncological diseases. [18] The jury for the 4th edition was made up of Professors Silvia Priori, who chaired the jury, Philippe J. Sansonetti, Pura Muñoz-Cánoves, Sandra Myrna Diaz, Federico de Montalvo, Juan Luis Arsuaga and the winner of the 2023 call, Professor Douglas A. Melton.[19] Dr June was received by King Felipe VI after the award ceremony, together with Juan Abarca Cidón, President of HM Hospitales, Elena Abarca Cidón, Vice-President of HM Hospitales, and Alberto Muñoz Terol, President of the HM Hospitales Research Foundation.[20]
| I Edition | 2021 | Jean-Laurent Casanova | Insights into human infections and their genetic control | |
| II Edition | 2022 | Philippe J. Sansonetti | Research on shigellosis or bacillary dysentery | |
| III Edition | 2023 | Douglas A. Melton | Advances in diabetes care | |
| IV Edition | 2024 | Carl H. June | CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of blood cancers |