Olga Valverde Granados, professor at UPF and head of the research group in Behavioral Neurobiology (GReNeC-Neurobio), has been appointed the new director of the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University (MELIS-UPF).
The neuroscientist has been a professor at UPF since 1998, and will now replace Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo as Head of the Department. Valverde, who was already part of the previous management team, has been chosen by the members of the department council, and will be the first woman to lead the MELIS department.
After the recent announcement of the appointment of Mònica Bettencourt-Dias as the new director of the CRG, and Denise Naniche having become the scientific director of ISGlobal in 2019, with Valverde there are currently three women leading PRBB institutions, which represents almost 50% of the leadership.
Valverde takes on the challenge with enthusiasm. “The MELIS department has become one of the benchmarks for biomedical research among university departments in our country,” says the researcher. “The challenge now is to continue growing in research excellence, innovating in our training activity and with the social commitment to contribute to the training of future vocations in biomedical sciences”.
“The challenge is to continue growing in research excellence, innovating in training and with the social commitment to contribute to future vocations in biomedical sciences”
Olga Valverde, new MELIS-UPF director
The inauguration ceremony took place in the auditorium of the Mercè Rodoreda building on the Ciutadella campus, where the new director of the Department of Law and the dean of the Faculty of Social Political Sciences also accepted their new roles.
The event was chaired by Laia de Nadal, rector of UPF, who said that “we are at a crucial moment for the future of science and universities. That’s why it is necessary to defend university autonomy and the value of free, critical and useful knowledge for society with determination.”
