Pío del Río Hortega Award for Dr. Xavier Matias-Guiu for his contribution to the study of gynaecological cancer

Dr. Xavier Matias-Guiu, head of the Pathological Anatomy Service at the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital, researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRBLleida) and professor at the University of Lleida (UdL), has received the Pío del Río Hortega Award, awarded by the Spanish Society of Pathological Anatomy (SEAP).

The SEAP awards this prize every two years, coinciding with the congress of the society that this year has brought together 1,600 pathologists in Donosti on May 21 to 23. The award is a recognition of the SEAP for the scientific and clinical career of Dr. Matias-Guiu, especially for his contribution to the study of gynecological cancer.

The SEAP is the scientific society that represents the pathologists of Spain, around 3,000. Pathologists (specialists in Pathological Anatomy) are doctors who make the diagnosis of diseases (especially cancer), based on the microscopic image of tissue samples (biopsies) or cells (cytologies). In the case of cancer, they also evaluate the genetic characteristics of tumours, so that a specific treatment (precision oncology) is applied.

This award is awarded in honor of Professor Pío del Río Hortega, a Spanish histologist and pathologist, a disciple of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who described for the first time two types of brain cells (microglia and oligodendròglia), and contributed to the classification of brain tumors. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine twice (1929 and 1937), and died in exile in Argentina in 1945.

Text: Communication and Image Office / ICS Lleida, Alt Pirineu i Aran and Health Services Management