Tribute to Joan Guinovart (1947 – 2025)
Last November 22, the Alliance’s Charity Gala featured a particularly emotional moment. Joan Guinovart, who had confirmed his attendance to share his vision as a researcher and patient, was unable to be present due to his deteriorating health. His daughter, Caterina Guinovart, on his behalf, read the speech he had prepared, conveying his unwavering commitmentto science and the need to move faster in the fight against disease.
Joan Guinovart (1947 – 2025) was a leading Spanish biochemist, renowned for his research on glycogen and hepatic glycogen synthase, as well as for his work with FEBS, IUBMB and the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Between 2001 and 2002, he directed the Barcelona Science Park and in 2005 founded the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona (IRB Barcelona), marking a milestone in the advancement of biomedicine.
In his speech, Guinovart emphasized the urgency of increasing resources for research, accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries to the clinic and eliminating bureaucratic hurdles that slow down this process. These were his words:
I thank the organizing committee for their invitation to participate in this event. Finally after 50 years of dedicating myself to biomedical research I am invited to speak at a cancer symposium, thank you!
This time I speak from the dual perspective of the researcher and the patient. As a researcher, I have been surrounded by colleagues at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) who work on different aspects of experimental oncology. Basic researchers working on the molecular basis of diseases are aware of the impact that our work can have on patients. But this vision is magnified when seen from the other side, because it is basic and clinical research that can change the life of the cancer patient and that offers hope and expectations of overcoming the disease.
Research, together with advanced clinical practice, has provided tools to treat certain types of cancer that have dramatically increased survival and cure rates.
Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is not at the forefront of these advances, which indicates that not enough effort is devoted to research on this type of tumor. It is therefore necessary to attract more financial and human resources to the fight against this disease. ALIPANC’s efforts in this direction are commendable.
Patient associations and biomedical research funding agencies should devote a greater percentage of their budgets to the fight against pancreatic cancer, which is one of the most deadly cancers, whose incidence is increasing dramatically and of which many basic aspects are still unknown.
On the other hand, hospitals and research centers would do well to redouble their efforts to attract more bright minds in biomedical research to tackle these types of projects. Pancreatic cancer poses exciting challenges that should prove very attractive to biomedical researchers.
I am proud that some of the most brilliant scientists trained at IRB Barcelona have decided to dedicate their efforts to pancreatic cancer research. Thank you Pancho Barriga, Elisa Espinet, and Direna Alonso-Curbelo for choosing this line of research and being part of ALIPANC. Thanks also to Cristina Fillat, former collaborator, for working on this topic.
For a patient, research on his or her disease is a source of hope. However, the pace of translational research must be accelerated in order to reduce the time between a basic discovery and its application in the clinic. In this respect, any bureaucratic hurdle becomes a limiting factor. Every effort must be made to optimize the translational processes, and here the national and European health authorities have a fundamental role to play.
One aspect that is not evident until one finds oneself in this situation is the importance of the family and social environment in dealing with the fight against the disease. I cannot imagine what it would be like to cope with the disease without the unconditional support of my family. I believe that having this support is an essential part of the process of fighting and healing.
Thanks again for the invitation. I regret that I was unable to attend in person. I would like to take this opportunity to also thank my oncologists, other medical specialists and nursing professionals for their excellent treatment of me. Thank you very much.
His legacy, both in science and in advocating for research as a driver of progress, will continue to inspire the biomedical community and all those who strive for a better future for patients.
