• This recognition aims to promote research in the field of radiation oncology and to contribute to the knowledge and progress of health sciences in the region
• The initiative is linked to the UB-Atrys University Chair in Personalised Radiotherapy, which aims to promote research excellence, specialised teaching and the dissemination of knowledge in the field of precision radiation oncology
• The hospital radiophysicist, Carles Muñoz Montplet, and the radiation oncologist, María Laplana Torres, were the winners of this first edition and will become Corresponding Academicians of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia, making Dr. Carles Muñoz the first hospital radiophysicist to become a member in the history of this institution

Atrys Health, a global healthtech company that provides prevention, diagnosis and precision medical treatment services and a pioneer in telemedicine and oncology treatment, the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia (RAMC) have joined forces to continue promoting excellence and innovation in research in the field of Radiation Oncology. On 19 March, Atrys, together with both institutions, presented the awards for the first edition of the ‘Awards for the best Doctoral Thesis in the field of Radiation Oncology (Clinical, Physical or Biological part) of the year 2023, a distinction that recognises the best doctoral thesis in this field of research published during that year.

The award, asociated to the UB-Atrys Chair in Personalised Radiotherapy, is given to authors of a doctoral thesis read at one of the Faculties of Medicine in Catalonia, and whose results have been published in journals indexed in the Journal Citation Report (JCR) during the current year or in the 2 years prior to the reading of the thesis.

In this first edition of the Awards, the prizes for the best thesis have been awarded to a physicist and an oncologist. A prize that means their appointment as Corresponding Academicians of the RAMC. Dr. Carles Muñoz Montplet, a hospital radiophysicist at the Catalan Institute of Oncology, received the award for his thesis ‘Clinical impact of the calculation of the absorbed dose in external radiotherapy using a new algorithm based on the solution of the Bollzmann equation’. It has been presented by Dr. Guedea, director of the UB-Atrys Chair of Personalised Radiotherapy, academic of the RAMC and professor of the UB. The awarding of this prize is an important milestone in the history of the RAMC, as it means that Dr. Muñoz Montplet becomes the first hospital radiophysicist to become a member of the Academy. In the words of the award winner, ‘this award is an incentive to continue working at the service of society and an important milestone for the collaboration between physics and medicine within the RAMC’.

Dr. María Laplana Torres, radiation oncologist at the Hospital Clínic de Granollers, was recognised for her thesis ‘Partial breast irradiation with classic and modern brachytherapy as a treatment for breast cancer’. It was presented by Dr. Albert Biete, full member of the RAMC and Emeritus Professor of Radiology at the UB. During the ceremony, Dr. Laplana Torres thanked the recognition and all the people who have supported her over the years, stressing the value of such awards for the world of research: ‘We hope that from our research we can contribute to the treatment of many cancer patients. This is a boost to continue demonstrating the importance of finding new solutions.

The event was closed by Santiago de Torres, President of Atrys Health; Dr. Joan Guàrdia, Rector of the University of Barcelona and Dr. Josep Antoni Bombí, President of the RAMC. In the words of Santiago de Torres, ‘these awards symbolise the excellent research work being carried out in Spain in the field of Radiation Oncology and aim to encourage researchers to continue working and fighting for people’s health and for the future of health. At Atrys, we reaffirm our support for collaboration with the academic world, convinced that excellence in research, the promotion of innovation and specialised teaching are key to the sustainability of the healthcare system’.

The Rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, highlighted ‘the role of these awards in the recognition, promotion and consolidation of research in the field of precision radiation oncology’. The rector pointed out that ‘public-private collaboration – public institutions, business, knowledge and ethics – reinforces a commitment to the future that will allow us to move from mass therapy to personalised therapy and advance in this field of study’.

For his part, Dr. Josep Antoni Bombí, president of the RAMC, pointed out the value that these awards represent as they give rise to the incorporation of health professionals who have demonstrated an initial trajectory in research and who augur an important scientific future for our country. At the same time, he pointed out the incorporation of a physicist into the RAMC for the first time in the 253-year history of the institution. He recalls that one of the objectives is precisely to preserve the memory of the scientific health heritage of Catalonia in order to guide it towards a future improvement of the health of our society. Finally, he thanks both Atrys Health and the University of Barcelona for their confidence in the RAMC to continue collaborating with private companies and public institutions in the improvement of our society.

_{Advancing research to fight cancer}

Atrys Health is firmly committed to research in the field of oncology. Under this premise, in 2021 it created, together with the University of Barcelona, the UB-Atrys Chair in Personalised Radiotherapy, an initiative that seeks to promote research excellence, specialised teaching and the dissemination of knowledge in the field of precision radiation oncology in three main areas: the personalisation of radiotherapy treatments through radiosensitivity and radiotoxicity studies; predictive diagnosis prior to high-precision radiotherapy treatment; and the effect of radiotherapy on the immune response to cancer.

In addition, within the framework of this chair, the company and the UB organise the annual ‘Personalised Radiotherapy Research Awards’. This is the third edition of this initiative, which aims to recognise excellence and innovation in research, and to promote the dissemination of knowledge in radiation oncology, an area of work of particular relevance for further progress in the treatment of cancer.