X Jornada d’actualització sobre la infecció per VIH i la pandèmia de COVID-19

Dr. Clotet received his MD (1976) and his PhD (1981), with a thesis on autoimmune diseases, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). That same year, his internship as an Internal Medicine specialist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona coincided with the first AIDS case reported in Spain. This case was the catalyst for a career dedicated to this serious disease, first as head of the HIV Unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona (1987-2015) and then as founder and president of the Fight against AIDS Foundation (1992), which is now named as Fight Infections Foundation.

Dr. Clotet soon saw the need to go a step beyond patient care to conduct research aimed at eradicating AIDS. In 1995, with the support of “la Caixa” and the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia, he founded the IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute, which he still heads.  In addition, Dr. Clotet is also the clinical director of Infectious Diseases at the Metropolitana Nord area of the Catalan Institute of Health, scientific advisor to two IrsiCaixa spin-offs: Aelix Therapeutics SL and AlbaJuna Therapeutics SL and director of the Chair of AIDS and Related Diseases at the Universitat de Vic (UVic).

He has published more than 1000 papers in high impact international journals and his contributions to research have been recognized with the Josep Trueta medal to Sanitary Merit and the ‘Premi Nacional de Recerca’, among other awards.

Eugènia Negredo completed the specialty of Internal Medicine at the Sant Pau Hospital, Barcelona, in 1998. She received her Ph.D. in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, in 2002. Since 1999, Dr. Negredo works as a physician in the HIV Unit of Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Barcelona, and she leads the research group focused on the epidemiology, pathogenesis and treatment of different HIV- and antiretroviral-related complications. She is also Associate Professor of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Universitat de Vic.

Julià Blanco (PhD in Biochemistry, University of Barcelona (UB), 1994) leads the Cell Virology and Immunology (VIC) group at IrsiCaixa. He has extensively studied the role of the HIV envelope glycoprotein (Env) in virus-cell or cell-to-cell interactions and HIV cytopathicity in a translational environment. In vivo, he has explored the mechanisms involved in CD4 T-cell depletion, analysing the contribution of virological and immunological factors that modulate CD4 and B-cell survival. In parallel, his team has developed experimental models for the analysis of cell-to-cell HIV transmission and Env-induced cell death. Knowledge generated regarding the Env function has also proved useful in analysing anti-Env drug and anti-Env antibody mechanisms of action and in contributing to a better understanding of antibody protection from HIV acquisition and spread. Dr. Blanco recently co-founded AlbaJuna Therapeutics SL as an IrsiCaixa spin-off whose main activity is the development of synthetic antibodies against HIV.

Born in Lleida in 1977, Beatriz Mothe, MD, PhD, completed under a national competitive post-specialization programme for physicians (ISCIII Rio Hortega CM08/00020 2009-2011) was on the subject of immunological, virological and genetic HIV-control mechanisms that could be incorporated into the rational design of novel therapeutic vaccine candidates (Catalan Award for Best Thesis on Infectious Diseases in 2012). She has actively participated in pre-clinical testing of a novel HIV T-cell immunogen called HTI, designed to redirect cytotoxic T-cell responses to protective and conserved HIV targets capable of controlling viral replication. Following US research stays at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard (formerly Partners AIDS Research Center) and the National Cancer Institute at Frederick, after taking up a research fellowship position (ISCIII Joan Rodés JR13/00024 2014-2016), she is currently an associated researcher at the Host Genetics and Cellular Immunology group led by Dr. Brander in IrsiCaixa. She also works in the HIV unit of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, where she co-directs with Dr José Moltó the research line of Vaccines, Immunotherapies and Pharmacology. As a clinical researcher, she focuses on identifying and monitoring acute/recent HIV infection and HIV controllers as models for a functional cure (principal investigator for the early-cART and controller cohorts). She also coordinates clinical trials and immune monitoring in aspects related to therapeutic vaccines and eradication strategies. Mothe has been a teacher of the MSc in Zoonoses and One Health (UAB) since 2016 and is currently co-directing with Dr Brander a doctoral thesis on the subject of advanced immunology for the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She has been an associate professor in the Faculty of AIDS and Related Diseases at the University of Vic-University of Central Catalonia (UVic-UCC) since 2014.

Internist with extensive knowledge in the field of Infectious Diseases. She holds a degree in Medicine from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and obtained a specialty in Internal Medicine at the Consorci Hospitalari de Vic (CHV).

She worked at the Santa Caterina de Salt Hospital where she participated in the establishment of the first anal cancer detection unit -human papillomavirus- in the province of Girona.

Since 2018 he has been part of the Infections Group of the Internal Medicine service and is responsible for the CHV’s HIV consultation

Doctor of Medicine from the University of Barcelona (UB) and specialist in Internal Medicine (1977) from the University Hospital of Bellvitge (HUB) where he was Head of Internal Medicine for 20 years. In the field of university teaching, he has worked for years as full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the UB, where in recent years he was director of the Department of Clinical Sciences.

He is currently professor and dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya (UVic-UCC), where he also directs the Chair of Medical Education.

Dr. Manuel Crespo holds a doctorate in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He obtained his specialty in Internal Medicine at the Xeral Hospital in Vigo in 1999. He worked as a specialist in the Infectious Diseases Service at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital until April 2016.

He later moved to Vigo where he directed the Internal Medicine Service at the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital.

On his return to Catalonia, in 2021, he joined the Bellvitge University Hospital as an internist. Currently, since September 2022, he is head of the Internal Medicine Service of Althaia (Manresa).

ICREA Research Professor and Principal Investigator at Retrovirology and Clinical Studies research group, Irsicaixa AIDS Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain.

Dr. Domingo Ruiz holds a doctorate in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He obtained the specialty in Internal Medicine at the Hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona in 1990 and worked as a specialist doctor in this hospital from 1990 to 2000 and as Head of Clinic from 2000 to 2017.

He was subsequently Head of Internal Medicine Service in Althaia (Manresa) from 2018 to 2022.

Currently, he is associate professor and academic coordinator of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine (Manresa Territorial Teaching Unit) of the University of Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya (UVIC-UCC).

Specialist physician and researcher at Fight Infections Foundation, Badalona, Spain.