It is unfolded from Medical Research which from now onwards  will be called Biomedical Research.

The Rei Jaume I Prizes will have a new award in this edition, the result of splitting of Medical Research in two: i) Biomedical Research and ii) Clinical Research and Public Health.

This was announced at a press briefing by the president of the Valencian Foundation Rei Jaume I Prizes, Vicente Boluda, and the executive president of the foundation, Javier Quesada. They detailed some aspects of the 2024 edition, for which nominations have already begun to arrive.

They have assured that the new award is a historical claim, since in the recognition of Medical Research there were always two different profiles of candidates -one more related to biomedicine and others to clinical medicine- and each year they alternated in between, so that there was always a field without an award: “Throughout the 30 years of existence,” said Javier Quesada, “there has been constant interest on the part of the members of the juries to distinguish between biomedical research and clinical research, since although related they are two different areas of research. This circumstance made it very difficult to compare the merits of researchers with such different profiles. Biomedical researchers promote scientific progress with discoveries that have a general application and improve the understanding of the causes of the observed events. Clinical researchers develop new practices that are made available to the whole community for the improvement of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, epidemiology, and others,” explained the executive president.

Moreover, the pandemic has played a key role in making this decision, as it has made clear the importance of clinical research and public health, issues that from now on will have a specific recognition in the Rei Jaume I Prizes, explained Quesada. “The creation of the new annual award for “Clinical Research and Public Health” will contribute to the recognition of contributions to the common and shared knowledge of medicine and health from applied research in this domain. The Board of Trustees of the FVPRJI is convinced that the researchers in Clinical Research and Public Health will enthusiastically receive this as great news. “The Health sector in Spain – he emphasized – represents  9.1% of the GDP (5.6% public health-3.5% private health) and, in addition, 11.8% of government spending on health is carried out through agreements with the private health sector”. 

This new award will have the same endowment as the other six, 100,000 euros, and the foundation is looking for new sources of financing for this award in the clinical sector, where they have already had a first “favorable” contact with the company Ribera Salud.