Prize Winners

Curriculum Vitae

Doctor of Science (Chemistry), Doctor of Medicine and Surgery. Institute of Biomedical Research (CSIC) and UAM

Jury ruling

The jury for the Rei Jaume I Prize for Clinical Medicine, meeting in Valencia, has unanimously decided to award the 1998 prize to Ms Gabriella Morreale de Castro.

This is in recognition of her ground-breaking work, carried out jointly with Francisco Escobar del Rey, on the relationship between congenital hypothyroidism, iodine deficiency and mental retardation. They carried out pioneering experiments demonstrating the conversion of circulating thyroid hormones into active forms within the body’s tissues and discovered the importance of the transfer of maternal thyroid hormones to the developing foetus for the normal maturation of its brain. In 1976, they introduced selective screening of newborns to detect thyroid hormone deficiency and thereby prevent serious consequences such as mental retardation.

Their demonstration that iodine deficiency not only causes cretinism but also impairs the mental development of normal school-age children has led the WHO, UNICEF and other organisations involved in child protection to establish international programmes aimed at eliminating iodine deficiency.