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The Talents programme awards grants to research projects from around twenty health professionals affiliated with Germans Trias

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  • Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera provides these awards, supporting and enhancing the careers of young talents with both its own resources and contributions from the ICS Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord.

More than twenty young professionals from the ICS Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord, both from primary healthcare and the Germans Trias Hospital, have been recognised for having earned a grant to support their research. Specifically, they have won one of the grants awarded annually by Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera. This is the Talents program, which aims to reward, retain, and boost the careers of young talents in hospitals and research centres, enabling them to develop their skills to the fullest and carry out a research project related to their areas of specialization.

In total, health professionals from the ICS Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord have received 31 Talents grants, corresponding to both this year's edition of the programme and the previous years. Among these, 16 are for medical practitioners, including 12 residents from the Hospital and 3 from primary healthcare. Regarding nursing professionals and other healthcare professions, 7 professionals have received grants, 6 from the Hospital and 1 from primary healthcare. Additionally, eight Trias Sapiens research intensification scholarships have been awarded.

The Talents grant programme, now in its 12th edition and considered a successful model for promoting research among young specialist medical professionals and other healthcare professionals, was established by Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera with the aim of retaining talent in our country and promoting research. Together with Germans Trias Hospital and the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), post-residency grants were created for young specialist medical practitioners and healthcare professionals deemed excellent and relevant in their respective areas of specialisation. They aimed to carry out a research project with the goal of completing a doctoral thesis. Over the years, other reference hospitals such as Clínic Barcelona, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, and Bellvitge University Hospital have joined the program.

The Talents grants provide a boost for the realization of these projects, thanks to funding from Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, the ICS Gerència Territorial Metropolitana Nord and IGTP. All recognised health professionals will establish a connection with IGTP to conduct their research and innovation projects.

The award ceremony, held at the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera headquarters, brought together around fifty young awardees from the 2022 and 2023 editions to celebrate a day where scientific dissemination and research were the protagonists. It was chaired by Marc Soler, general director of Professionals de la Salut, accompanied, among others, by the territorial manager of the North Metropolitan Area of the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS) and representative of Germans Trias Hospital, Jordi Ara. Also present were Jordi Barretina, general director, and Julia García Prado, scientific director, both from IGTP.

During the event, four former awardees explained their projects. In addition, Cristina Vilaplana, microbiologist at Germans Trias and responsible for institutional relations at IGTP, acted as the godmother of the 2022 promotion, a symbolic accompaniment following in the footsteps of other researchers such as Manel Puig, Eva Martínez-Cáceres, or Bonaventura Clotet.

List of Talents programme awardees

Medical practitioners:

Year 2023:

  • Pablo González (Paediatrics). Project on care innovation and clinical research: music therapy in the Neonatal Unit of the Paediatrics Department.
  • Daniel Casquete (Cardiology). Analytical and clinical validation of the first immunoassay to personalize therapeutic strategies in patients with cardiogenic shock.
  • Jaime Carbonell (Neurology). Evaluation of the clinical effectiveness and neurophysiological changes of the ketogenic diet in adults with pharmacoresistant minor epilepsy: a prospective longitudinal study with prolonged VEEG monitoring.
  • Clara Larrañaga (Neurology). Treatment with non-invasive brain stimulation for chronic central pain.
  • Isabel Alfaya (Pneumology). Dissecting the collaborative pathways between pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer.
  • Cristina Blasco (Intensive Medicine). Variability of microbiota and intestinal metabolites in relation to mortality and functional prognosis in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage.
  • Maria Almazán (Family and Community Medicine). Voice of migrant and/or racialized patients in their contact with the health system.
  • Abel Torrelles (Cardiology). Precision medicine in assessing congestion in hospitalized patients with heart failure. – renewal

Year 2022:

  • Joan Francesc Andrés (Cardiology). REDPRES-HF: Renal denervation in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and uncontrolled arterial hypertension.
  • Abel Torrelles (Cardiology). Precision medicine in assessing congestion in hospitalized patients with heart failure.
  • Maria Puig (Digestive). Correlation of mesenteric fat with the risk of postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease (code: MATREC).
  • Sara Sentí (General and Digestive Surgery). Application of augmented reality in liver and pancreatic surgery: from fiction to reality.
  • Clara Gené (General and Digestive Surgery). Collagen matrix integrated into n-butyl-cyanoacrylate: a new reinforcement material for colorectal surgery anastomosis.
  • Aroia Goicoechea (Rehabilitation). Analysis of physical fatigue and muscle weakness in paediatric population with persistent COVID-19.
  • Irene Ruiz (Family and Community Medicine). Non-alcoholic fatty liver as a risk factor for subclinical atherosclerosis.
  • Marc Danés (Family and Community Medicine). Trajectories of Multimorbidity Patterns in Primary Care.
Nursing and Other Healthcare Professions:

Year 2023:

  • Marta Riera (Cardiology). Satisfaction of patients with Implantable Automatic Defibrillators using an exclusive remote follow-up program by specialized nursing (SATURN-ICD).
  • Isabel Granados (Areolar Micropigmentation Unit). Impact of nipple reconstruction in mastectomized patients through the injection of reticulated hyaluronic acid (RECHIAL).
  • Beatriz Díez (Home Hospitalization). Impact of the implementation of telemedicine in the HAD: e-Health Project in patients admitted to Home Hospitalization at Germans Trias Hospital.
  • Natàlia Maella (Primary Care). Implementation of autologous micrografts in sealing in people with difficult-to-heal wounds in the North Metropolitan DAP.

Year 2022:

  • Lydia Benages (Obstetrics and Gynecology). Prevalence and factors associated with the duration of breastfeeding.
  • Lorena Segovia Navarro (Obstetrics and Gynecology). Study of the applicability of hot-cold thermotherapy using the WAWA Lady belt in pregnant women.
  • Patrícia Barroso (Clinical Pain Nurse). Impact of the implementation of the advanced practice nurse in the management of acute pain.

Additionally, the event also recognised nearly a dozen health professionals from another grant program: Sapiens, aimed at specialist doctors to provide them with the necessary time to open new projects, consolidate an existing line, or learn and introduce new techniques or care treatments. In this regard, the awarded professionals were:

Year 2023:

  • Maria Hernández (Neurology). Treatment of stroke in the extended window: optimization of radiological selection and transfer model in patients with a stroke from 6-24h (VESTA study).
  • Sílvia Pellitero (Endocrinology and Nutrition). Obesity and health risk.
  • Fernando Marqués (Clinical Analysis and Biochemistry). Clinical implementation of pharmacogenomic biomarkers in patients prescribed psychoactive drugs.

Year 2022:

  • Elisabeth Castellanos (Clinical Laboratory). Gene therapy based on mRNA modifications for patients with neurofibromatosis type 2.
  • Freddzia Graterol (Nephrology). Multicenter care approach of a nephrogenetics unit in 3 hospitals in the North Barcelona and Maresme area and the Girona Health Region.
  • Manel Cremades (General and Digestive Surgery). Development and implementation of innovative solutions for safety, teaching, and assistance in the General and Digestive Surgery Service.
  • Ana Rodríguez (Neurosurgery). Early and Minimally Invasive Surgery in Intracranial Hematomas: Multicenter Translational Study of the Role of Initial Biomarkers in Brain Damage.
  • Berta Soldevila (Endocrinology and Nutrition). Characterization of scenarios of Adverse Metabolic Programming: role of Maternal Metainflammation in Fetal Metabolic Imprinting.