Images
- IRB Barcelona welcomes Dr. Ana María Cuervo, a world leader in the biology of ageing, as a new member of its External Advisory Board (EAB).
- Her appointment reinforces IRB Barcelona’s commitment to scientific excellence by strengthening its strategic international guidance through the EAB.
- She succeeds Dr Michael P. Czech, whom we thank warmly for his valuable contribution and long-standing support to the institute.
Following approval by the Board of Trustees, IRB Barcelona has welcomed Dr. Ana María Cuervo to its External Advisory Board (EAB). She joins the board following the completion of the mandate of Dr. Michael P. Czech, whose valuable contributions and long-standing dedication to the institute are gratefully acknowledged. The EAB, composed of 14 leading figures in biomedicine, plays a key role in evaluating the Institute’s scientific activity and guiding its long-term research strategy.
Dr. Cuervo is an internationally renowned scientist in the fields of ageing and protein degradation. She is co-Director of the Einstein Institute for Aging Research and holds the Robert and Renée Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
A pioneering figure in the study of autophagy in ageing, Dr. Cuervo’s laboratory discovered Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy (CMA), a protein degradation pathway essential for maintaining cellular protein homeostasis (proteostasis) which is the process that maintains the proper function of the proteins inside de cells (the proteome). Her research has uncovered fundamental mechanisms linking altered autophagy to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s as well as to metabolic disorders (obesity and diabetes).
With more than 300 publications and over 74,000 citations, Dr. Cuervo is listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University for career-long scientific impact. She is elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the Spanish Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences.
The incorporation of Dr. Cuervo into the EAB strengthens IRB Barcelona’s mission to pursue scientific excellence with an international perspective and to continue advancing research with a transformative impact on health and society.
About IRB Barcelona
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
