Awards

Announced in September 2025, Joan Seoane, an ICREA Research Professor, Director of our Immuno-Oncology and Tumor Microenvironment Program, and Head of VHIO’s Gene Expression and Cancer Group, received a CaixaImpulse Grant to develop new, safer and more precise immunotherapy treatments for solid tumors using engineered immune cells.

The €150,000 award from ”la Caixa” Foundation, one of our Patrons and Institutional Supporters, will support our research to develop immune cells engineered to detect and attack cancer cells that evade the immune system. Furthermore, the team is developing controlled release mechanisms, designed to deliver anti-cancer agents within the tumor, thus minimizing off-target effects in healthy tissue.

Aimed at accelerating the translation of innovations to bring new treatments to patients, the 2025 CaixaImpulse program has allocated a total of €3.8M in funding for 31 biomedical projects from research centers, hospitals, and universities across Spain and Portugal.

Additionally, in November 2025, Joan Seoane was also awarded a Health Research Grant from the ”la Caixa” Foundation for a new research project aimed at advancing insights into the pivotal role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in shaping immunotherapy outcomes in brain cancer. Specifically, Joan and his team will focus on tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and their role in hindering the efficacy of immunotherapy.

This study has been designed to identify novel therapeutic targets, predictive biomarkers of tumor response to immunotherapy, and translate findings into practical applications that can improve brain cancer therapy through new, more effective treatments and improve survival rates.

This year’s call—now in its 8^th annual edition—received a total of 714 proposals covering basic, clinical, and translational research. Led by 25 research centers, universities, and hospitals from Spain, and 9 from Portugal, 34 new cutting-edge biomedical research projects have been awarded up to €1M to address a wide variety of health challenges across different fields.

The ”la Caixa” Foundation INPhINIT program aims to retain and attract talent that promotes research of excellence in Spain and Portugal. The INPhINIT grants fund doctoral fellowships and Junior postdoctoral fellowships for talented young researchers of any nationality who wish to carry out their projects at universities and research centers in the two countries.

In total, the Foundation allocated more than €22M to the 60 INPhINIT doctoral program fellowships and the 40 fellowships from the Junior Leader postdoctoral program, both co-funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Actions, within the context of the Horizon 2020 framework programme.

This year, two predoctoral researchers at VHIO were awarded INPhINIT scholarships.

Daniel Capitán Leo, a PhD Student of VHIO’s Models of Cancer Therapies Group, will study the cooperative interplay between MYC and KRAS oncogenes in lung, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers. His research will focus on overcoming resistance to KRAS inhibitors, and identify potential new treatment strategies using Omomyc, the first direct MYC inhibitor to successfully complete a phase I clinical trial.

Cristina Molina, a Predoctoral Investigator of VHIO’s former Experimental Therapeutics Group, was awarded for a project using patient-derived xenograft (PDX) breast cancer models to develop predictive biomarkers of treatment response in personalized medicine.

Celebrated during the CRIS Scientific Symposium 2025 in April this year, the CRIS contra el Cáncer Foundation, VHIO’s newest Patron and Institutional Supporter, allocated a total of €11M to the CRIS Research Programs. These grants have become some of the most prestigious funding opportunities in Spain and Europe, not only for their scientific excellence but also for their financial support—up to €1,500,000 per project—with a duration of up to five years.

The following two VHIO projects were awarded in 2025:

Francisco Martínez Jiménez, Head of our Computational Immunogenomics Group, was recipient of a CRIS Emerging Leader Programme for his project focused on liver metastases. Francisco and his team aim to unravel the specific mechanisms underlying the formation of liver metastasis derived from various tumor types, and identify actionable targets that may pave the way for novel treatment strategies.

César Serrano, Head of VHIO’s Sarcoma Translational Research Group and Patricia Pautier, a Medical Oncologist at Gustave Roussy, Paris, received the CRIS – Gustave Roussy Real Life Trials in Oncology Programme to support the BRAVA clinical trial in patients with leiomyosarcoma. Based on the recent observation that BRCA mutations might be an underlying cause of some of these tumors, the investigators will conduct the BRAVA study to match patients harboring these molecular anomalies with available therapies.

In addition to the institutional support that VHIO receives through the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer) Excellence Program - Advanced Therapies Accelerator Program, AECC is a longstanding supporter of several VHIO groups and investigators.

In February this year, the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) in Barcelona held an award ceremony to celebrate the recipients of the 2024 AECC Grants. Last year AECC awarded research grants totaling €32M to support various cancer research projects across the country. In the province of Barcelona, the Association awarded 49 grants amounting to over €12.8M

Among the 2024 awardees, several of our investigators received funding across different AECC funding programs as follows:

Reto AECC 70% Supervivencia
Project title: Small cell lung cancer: from biology networks to tailored therapy (SOSCLC).
PI VHIO: Marcos Malumbres, Cancer Cell Cycle Group.
LAB AECC
Project title: Systematic characterization of distinctive immunogenomic traits of Cancers of Unknown Primary (CUPs) to identify novel therapeutic opportunities.
PI VHIO: Francisco Martínez-Jimenez, Computational Immunogenomics Group.
Proyectos Generales AECC
Project title: Precision Immunotherapy: Harnessing TCR T Cell Therapies to Target Recurrent Cancer Mutations in PIK3CA and KRAS (PI-TCR ACT).
PI VHIO: Alena Gros, Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Group.
AECC Talent Postdoctoral Fellowships
Project title: Targeting Resistance: Mechanisms and Modulators of PARP Inhibitor Response in Prostate Cancer.
Granted to Nicolás Anselmino. Project Director: Joaquin Mateo, Prostate Cancer Group.
AECC Talent Postdoctoral Fellowship
Project title: Identi-T: Identification and Comprehensive Analysis of Tumor-reactive T cells in the Blood for Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy.
Granted to Melissa Thone. Project Director: Alena Gros, Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Group.
AECC Talent Postdoctoral Fellowship
Project title: Power vacuum in kinase-driven cancers: from kit oncogenic addiction to kit Independence.
Granted to Pawel Sobczuk. Project Director: César Serrano, Sarcoma Translational Research Group.
AECC Talent Postdoctoral Fellowship
Project title: Decoding the impact of tumor-intrinsic MHC loss in cancer through genome engineering.
Granted to Dario Ruiz. Project Director: Francisco Barriga, Cancer Genome Engineering Group.

Laura Soucek, an ICREA Research Professor, Director of VHIO’s Experimental Therapeutics Program, and Head of our Models of Cancer Therapies Group, received a €150,000 European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant for the SONOMYC project aimed at enabling the Omomyc-derived compound, OMO-103, to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for the treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors. Developed by Peptomyc S. L., OMO-103 is currently being clinically tested in other aggressive tumor types, underscoring its potential versatility across a broad range of solid tumors.

The treatment of brain cancer represents a particular challenge because the BBB acts as a filter to regulate what enters the brain, protecting it from harmful substances. As such, the BBB poses a significant obstacle for delivering therapeutics to brain tumors since it restricts the free passage of molecules larger than 400 daltons. With this new project, Laura and her team will use SonoCloud® technology, an innovative therapeutic ultrasound-based medical device designed by Carthera®, to temporarily increase the permeability of the blood vessels in the brain, thereby enabling OMO-103 to pass through the BBB.

The investigators seek to optimize the delivery of Omomyc to the brain, expand its therapeutic efficacy for treating intracranial tumors, and demonstrate the commercial viability of developing this strategy as an innovative and disruptive for primary and metastatic brain tumors. The synergy between SonoCloud® and Omomyc could potentially generate new intellectual property, facilitate technology transfer, and advance the growing brain tumor therapeutics market.

ERC PoC Grants provide funding to researchers who have previously received an ERC grant, to explore the commercial and societal potential of their work by turning their frontier research into real-world solutions.

Irene Casanova, Senior Researcher of VHIO’s Prostate Cancer Group directed by Joaquin Mateo, was awarded a €2 million ERC Starting Grant for her project titled: Deconvolution of tumor evolution and ecosystem through EV-based liquid biopsy (EVOLVE), to develop a novel and minimally invasive tool to monitor the co-evolution of prostate cancer cells and their microenvironment using extracellular vesicles (EVs).

The investigators will deepen insights into how tumors evolve in response to therapy, and how systemic changes occur in the microenvironment and immune system, which could be highly relevant for the design and selection of new therapeutic strategies. The clinical development of this innovative liquid biopsy approach could ultimately help to extend the promise of precision medicine, improve patient stratification and treatment decision-making across a broad population of prostate cancer patients.

This year, Francisco Martínez-Jiménez, Head of our Computational Immunogenomics Group, received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to fund the tL-CHANCER project.

Endowed with €2,000,000 over five years, this funding will enable an in-depth investigation of the role of T-cell clonal hematopoiesis in antitumor activity. The central hypothesis of tL-CHANCER is that some mutations associated with T-cell clonal hematopoiesis potentiate antitumor activity and could therefore pave the way for the development of more effective cancer immunotherapies.

The investigators will analyze and characterize these mutations in both cancer patients and healthy donors, with the aim of uncovering the impact of these mutations on the antitumor function of T cells. Combining large-scale genomics, advanced computational analytics, and cutting-edge genome-editing technologies, they will move from identifying and analyzing these mutations in cancer patients, to functionally characterizing them. This approach could provide a better understanding of their impact on antitumor immunity, advance insights into cancer evolution, and open new avenues for developing therapeutic strategies.

In November 2025, Clarivate™ released the annual list of Highly Cited Researchers™ 2025. These researchers are globally recognized for extending the frontiers of knowledge and contributing to innovations that make the world healthier, more sustainable and which drive societal impact.

Based on citation data together with other quantitative metrics, qualitative analysis and expert judgement, a new list is determined each year by Clarivate’s in-house team at the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).

This year, Clarivate recognized 6,868 individuals with 7,131 awards from more than 1,300 institutions in 61 countries and regions. The number of Highly Cited Researcher designations exceeds the number of unique individuals who demonstrate significant and broad influence in their fields of research because some researchers are recognized in more than one Essential Science Indicators (ESI) field of research.

379 Highly Cited Researchers were awarded in the ESI field of Clinical Medicine including VHIO’s Director Josep Tabernero, who has been recognized for the tenth consecutive year, Enriqueta Felip, co-Director of our Clinical Research Division and Head of VHIO’s Thoracic Tumors Group, who has now been listed for the eighth successive year, and Ana Oaknin, Head of our Gynecological Malignancies Group (until end December), who has been recognized for two years in a row.

For the first year, Elena Élez, Head of VHIO’s Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group, was listed in the Cross-Field category which recognizes individuals whose work has a significant impact across multiple disciplines.

In March this year, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) officially announced the 2025 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy, with 33 newly elected Fellows including Josep Tabernero, VHIO’s Director and Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital.

Bringing the total number to 375, all AACR Fellows are world leaders in the cancer field whose work has had a significant and enduring impact on cancer research. They are also committed to helping to advance the mission of the AACR to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, science policy and advocacy, and funding for cancer research.

Specifically, Josep was elected as an AACR Fellow for his cutting-edge contributions to translational gastrointestinal cancer research, from the biological basis of disease to the clinical implementation of novel therapies and application of biomarkers in clinical trials; for the development of patient-derived xenograft models that have advanced therapies targeting oncogenic drivers and for identifying predictive biomarkers to optimize treatment response and overcome therapeutic resistance.

The 2025 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy inducted into the AACR Academy during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025 Opening Ceremony, held on 27 April, in Chicago.

This year, the Barcelona City Council reached the unanimous decision to award the Medalla de Oro al Mérito Científico 2025 (Gold Medal for Scientific Merit) to VHIO’s Director Josep Tabernero. This accolade recognizes his outstanding contributions and pioneering advances in medical oncology and precision medicine including the discovery of novel mechanisms driving tumor development and the design of more precise and effective targeted therapies against cancer.

In addition to Josep’s professional achievements, the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, highlighted his many other qualities including his values that inspire the people of Barcelona such as his commitment to excellence, social purpose, and upholding the legacy in favor of the city. He also praised his role as Chair of the Internal Scientific Committee of the recently established CaixaResearch Institute, one of the most relevant emerging research centers in Barcelona.

This year, Raquel Perez-Lopez, Head of our Radiomics Group, was appointed as member of the European Society of Radiology’s (ESR) Executive Council as Chair of its Research Committee.

Working in close collaboration with other committee members and the industry, she will seek to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration by organizing workshops and meetings involving radiologists as well as other healthcare professionals and engineers. She will also promote training opportunities and access to scholarships for young radiologists and radiology technicians to foster research in the field and translate cutting-edge research into clinical advancements.

Officially announced at the General Assembly of the Spanish Society of Radiation Oncology’s (SEOR) annual symposium (SEOR 2025), celebrated November 6 -7 in Salamanca, Xavier Maldonado, Head of Vall d’Hebron’s Radiation Oncology Department and VHIO’s Radiation Oncology Group, was appointed as the new Director of the Institute for Research in Radiation Oncology (IRAD).

Working alongside IRAD leadership and committees, Xavier Maldonado will seek to promote and standardize radiation oncology research in Spain, further strengthen synergies between national and international societies and their research institutes, position Spanish radiotherapy at the forefront of innovation, and coordinate projects among researchers from different fields.

Pedro Rocha, a Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors Group was among one of the six recipients of this year’s International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) one-year Young Investigator Grants. Presented at IASLC’s 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC 2025), 06-09 September, Barcelona, Spain, $50,000 in research funding will support his project titled: Sex-Based Biomarkers and Molecular Profiles as Predictors of Bispecific T-Cell Engagers (BiTEs) Therapy Response in Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC).

Specifically, this research will focus on how sex-based differences affect SCLC patients' response to BiTE therapy are driven by distinct molecular and immunological profiles; if detectable, these differences could be leveraged to predict long-term responders. This project builds on results of preliminary analysis of patients treated with BiTEs at Vall d'Hebron, which showed a higher prevalence of long-term responders among women, pointing to potentially significant sex-based differences in anti-tumor immune response to this therapy.

Celebrated at the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology Annual Congress 2025 (SEOM 2025), 11 - 14 November in Madrid, 70 SEOM Grants were presented to medical oncologists and SEOM members during the SEOM 2025 Grants, Projects and Awards Ceremony that took place on Wednesday, November 12. For the fourth consecutive year, this represents the highest number of grants ever awarded by SEOM. This funding supports research projects as well as training opportunities toward improving survival and quality of life for cancer patients.

Among the selected recipients, the following oncologists and researchers at Vall d’Hebron and VHIO were awarded:

SEOM Visiting Fellowship for a stay in a leading international center.
Awardee: Francisco Javier Ros Montaña, VHIO’s Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group, who will carry out his fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Funded by Novartis.
SEOM Travel Grant for two-month external rotations for fifth-year residents.
Awardee: Pau Mascaró Baselga, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and VHIO investigator, for a stay at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Funded by AstraZeneca.

SEOM Travel Grant for two-month external rotations for fifth-year residents.
Awardee: Jesús Gustavo Yaringaño Cerna, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and VHIO researcher, for a stay at Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France). Funded by AstraZeneca.
SEOM “Somos futuro” Award.
Awardee: Eduardo Terán Brage, VHIO’s Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Cancer and Endocrine Tumors Group. Funded by MERCK.
SEOM Doctoral Thesis Award for Young Researchers
Awardee: Francisco Javier Ros Montaña from the Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group.
SEOM Grant for Impact Projects in Metastatic Cancer using Artificial Intelligence.
Awardee: Iosune Baraibar Argota, VHIO’s Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group, for her project titled: Expanding the benefit of immunotherapy in microsatellite-stable metastatic colorectal cancer through radiomics and circulating biomarkers. Funded by Gilead.
SEOM Research Grant in Breast Cancer.
Awardee: María Alejandra Rezqallah Arón, VHIO’s Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group, for her project titled: Impact on screening recommendations and preference for risk-reducing surgery after risk assessment of developing breast cancer with the CanRisk tool in healthy women carrying a pathogenic variant in BRCA1/2 or PALB2. Funded by DAIICHI SANKYO.
SEOM Research Grant in Lung Cancer.
Awardee: Laura Masfarré Pintó, VHIO’s Thoracic Tumors Group, for her project titled: Molecular and immune profiling of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) histological transformation: exploring new therapeutic opportunities. Funded by DAIICHI SANKYO.

The Fundación para la Excelencia y la Calidad de la Oncología – ECO Awards (Foundation for Excellence and Quality in Oncology) recognize those individuals and institutions that work to promote and develop medical oncology and dedicate their time and effort not only to research and advancing the treatment and care of their patients, but also to raising awareness about cancer.

The prize-giving, open not only to medical oncologists but also to healthcare professionals, political figures, associations, scientific societies, charitable organizations, and the media, celebrated its 13^th edition this year.

Taking place at the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain, Madrid, VHIO’s Colorectal Cancer Group was among this year’s awardees. Elena Élez, a Medical Oncologist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Head of our Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group, was presented with the ECO Extraordinary Award for Innovative Research of Excellence in Digestive Tumors in recognition of her significant contributions to cancer science and medicine at the national and international levels through groundbreaking translational research, impactful clinical trials, and advanced biomarker discovery.

Held at an award ceremony held at La Pedrera in Barcelona, Catalonia, the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera Talents Grants were presented to the 2024 and 2025 awardees. The Talents program is a collaboration between the foundation and the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, as well as VHIO, Germans Trias i Pujol Institute for Health Science Research (IGTP), Bellvitge University Hospital, and the Hospital Clínic Barcelona.

Aimed at retaining talent and promoting the research of healthcare professionals in Catalonia, these post-residency grants are for young medical specialists and healthcare professionals considered as outstanding and prominent in their respective fields of specialization, who wish to pursue a research project for their doctoral thesis.

Among the 33 Talent Grant recipients, two VHIO researchers were awarded this year.

Vittoria Barberi, a Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s with Breast Cancer Group, presented her project titled: Identification of predictive biomarkers of response to chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors in early triple-negative breast cancer: A study of T lymphocyte immunodynamics.

Clara Salvà de Torres, an Oncology Resident at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and a Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Gastrointestinal Tract Tumors Group, received a Talents Grant to develop her project titled: Defining cell cycle-targeted therapeutic opportunities in BRAF V600E-mutated colorectal cancer.

On the occasion of the 16^th ICS (Catalan Institute of Health) Research Conference, held in November, ICS announced the winners of its 2025 Research Awards. The awards recognize significant contributions to the development of research in the health sciences, and promote and acknowledge high-quality biomedical research. This edition included seven different categories.

Among this year’s seven award-winning professionals, Glòria Iacoboni, a Hematologist and Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Cell Engineering and Hematologic Immunotherapy Group, received the ICS 2025 Young Researcher Award in recognition of her excellence in knowledge generation, her outstanding number of high-impact scientific publications, and her significant contribution to the field of advanced CAR-T cell therapies.

Celebrated in October this year, the Ramón Areces Foundation hosted the 3^rd Edition of the Healthcare Leadership Awards, organized by the Observatorio de Salud (ODS) and the Estudio de Comunicación, in collaboration with the Ramón Areces Foundation, Fundación Mutua Madrileña, and the Spanish Medical Association. These awards recognize healthcare leadership of excellence across a broad range of specialties including cardiology, dermatology, hospital pharmacy, hematology, preventive medicine, internal medicine, nephrology, pulmonology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, medical oncology, pediatrics, psychiatry, urology, radiology, and nursing.

Francesc Bosch, Head of the Hematology Department at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and co-Director of VHIO’s Clinical Research Division received the 2025 Healthcare Leadership Award in Hematology.

Divided into three categories—best clinical and research healthcare professionals, best hospital management, and best healthcare projects from Spain’s Autonomous Communities—the awardees are selected based rigorous, independent, and objective evaluation carried out by the organizers, and validated by the votes of 10,876 physicians and a jury composed of 30 distinguished figures from healthcare and patient organizations, health and communication experts, who selected the winners.

In February this year, the Barcelona City Council announced the winners of its Premios Ciutat de Barcelona, which have been held annually since 1949. These prizes recognize the artistic and cultural contributions linked to the city.

For the first time, the public reading of the jury's verdicts and the subsequent award ceremony were divided into two events. The first, held on 12 March, honored cultural awards, and the second, celebrated on 27 May, was dedicated to scientific awards. Both ceremonies took place in the Barcelona City Hall’s Saló de Cent.

Among the awardees, Laura Soucek, Director of VHIO’s Experimental Therapeutics Program, Head of our Models of Cancer Therapies Group, an ICREA Research Professor, and co-Founder and CEO of the Peptomyc spin-off from VHIO and ICREA, was announced as the winner of the 2024 Premio Ciutat de Barcelona in the Life Sciences category. This prestigious accolade acknowledges her groundbreaking work demonstrating the cliinical validity of the MYC protein as a therapeutic target for the treatment of solid tumors.

Presented by the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia), Salvador Illa, the National Communication Awards recognize excellence in the field of communication in Catalonia.

Among this year’s recipients were Bianca Pont, Director of Communication at VHIO, along with journalist Adam Martin, and Cristina Salvador, Founder and CEO of the content creation and communications company. Both winners were awarded under the category of Advertising and Corporate Communication.

Specifically, the jury recognized VHIO’s Cancer360° podcast which is spearheaded by Bianca and her communications team, and hosted by Adam Martin. In its second season in 2025, this podcast updates on current and future directions in cancer research conducted at VHIO and explores the many facets of this disease through the eyes of both VHIO professionals and their patients.

The PRECISEU Best Practice Recognitions recognize transformative practices that are driving the future of personalized medicine and advanced therapies in Europe. These awards celebrate initiatives that exemplify innovation, impact, and excellence in the use of health data within regional innovation ecosystems.

Announced during the PRECISEU General Assembly, held during the Life Sciences Baltics Conference, 17-18 September in Vilnius, Lithuania, this year’s awarded projects included the EU-funded Pragmatic approach to Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) using Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) in selected solid tumours (PragmaTIL). This project is coordinated by VHIO, with Elena Garralda, Director of our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer UITM-CaixaResearch, and co-Director of our Clinical Research Division, as Principal Investigator, and Silvia Martin-Lluesma, Head of our Advanced Therapies Program, as Coordinator of one of PragmaTIL’s work packages.

Recognized in the category of Excellence, this award acknowledges this project’s important contribution to harnessing health data to optimize TIL-ACT treatment strategies and reduce treatment-related toxicities.

In collaboration with the medical newspaper Diario Médico, Merco Salud commemorated the past ten years of the Monitor de Reputación Sanitaria – MRS (Monitor of Healthcare Reputation). The 10^th anniversary gala brought together the main representatives of the national healthcare and pharmaceutical sector to recognize the 14 Spanish hospital services with the best reputation since 2014, the 14 most prestigious therapeutic areas, and the 10 most outstanding pharmaceutical companies during this period.

During the ceremony, Merco Salud recognized the excellence of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital’s Medical Oncology Service, headed by VHIO’s Director Josep Tabernero, which has established itself as a prestigious benchmark within the Spanish healthcare system. Reflective of quality of care, innovation, and leadership in research, this service has occupied the number one slot in its specialty for ten consecutive years.