“Leon is at MCC-Spain because we wanted to cover a ‘hot’ area in colon cancer”

Marina Polan Santamaría (La Baneza. León. 1960) has recently assumed, on the proposal of the Ministries of Health and Science, the directorship of the Carlos III Health Institute, the public body of the Government in charge of financing and conducting national biomedical research. , proposed by the Ministry of Health and Science, Technology and Innovation. With a degree in Medicine from the University of Salamanca and specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health, she has been in charge of ISCIII, a phase of the National Institute of Epidemiology, since 2019.

—How is this appointment taken?

—It is a challenge that I take up with enthusiasm and responsibility. Thanks to the work of both the previous directors, Raquel Yotti and Cristóbal Belda, and thanks to the impulse of the Minister, the Institute is in a great position to continue our great challenge: using science to improve people’s health. I will put my full efforts into this work.

—What are your objectives and priorities?

-Continue to promote our key areas: own research, science funding, training and advice, and the provision of scientific-technical services. We have also recently added a doping control laboratory, which allows us to offer a very relevant new service. It is still too early to specify, but my priorities are the strategic planning of the institute and continuing to work on issues that are already very important for ISCIII: public health surveillance, precision medicine with the help of PERTE for Vanguard Health. Promote and carry out the implementation and maintenance of the IMPaCT Infrastructure, of which the consolidation of the IMPaCT Group is particularly relevant, throughout the Spanish territory. ISCIII’s objectives also include the development of innovative treatments, the promotion of internationalization and public-private collaboration with participation in projects such as the New European Partnership and Cancer Mission. I have left one main objective for the end, which is the reinforcement of our research centers: ISCIII professionals worked tirelessly during the pandemic and now it is time to get the recognition they deserve with a new incentive for these centers. Be reflected in the form.

-Regarding COVID-19 mortality data, what does it mean for the MoMo program tool to have clean data?

-The Momo tool is a great help because of its projections. We should remember that this overestimates excess deaths from all causes, regardless of cause of death, and serves as a warning system, as well as a more specific one for cases of temperature-related excess deaths. Also maintains the system. During the pandemic, MoMo was a support for decision making, and as a surveillance tool it will remain useful to detect new excess mortality.

-WHO is frustrated by the lack of consensus among countries to prevent other pandemics. What is being done in this area by the Carlos III Health Institute?

-I will not talk about despair, but about the need to continue working unitedly. All joint work is welcome, and we have the recent case of the pandemic to prove it. In this regard, with the intention of learning, last year we at the Institute published a very interesting report on our work in the pandemic. We must be as prepared as possible for potential new alerts or public health crises, and continue to respond to the health threats we already have, which are not diminished. We must combine what we get from the Institute, our country’s global efforts, the EU’s leadership and international cooperation. In fact, there are various initiatives in Europe to help us prepare for new threats and in which ISCIII participates.

-What research are you currently working on? Is it difficult to maintain research and management?

– Logically, my work as Director of ISCIII will take me a long time. I am a scientist and I love researching health, now my role is more strategic. Perhaps in my position I will be able to help strengthen our country’s excellent work in the field of biomedical research. We now have recent science legislation, which includes various measures to improve research careers, attract and retain talent, transfer more knowledge, and promote scientific management and commercialization of research.

My field of work is cancer epidemiology and my research group will continue the guidelines that we have managed to consolidate over time. We are interested in helping prevent cancer by identifying potentially modifiable risk factors, as well as developing and validating models that allow us to identify people at higher risk so that they can focus on prevention strategies. Can be focused on.

-For years he has been collaborating with the ULE Preventive Medicine team through the MCC-Spain and Generics working groups. Why have you supported the inclusion of Leonese researchers in this group?

-As a Leonese, it is a matter of pride for me that researchers from our land are involved in large collaborative projects. We included Leon in MCC-Spain because we wanted to include participants from some of the hot areas for colon cancer, which were identified several years ago by Dr. Gonzalo López-Abante, the first head of the cancer unit at my center. I believe this study has been a wonderful opportunity for ULE and its researchers who have contributed not only to the participants, but also to the ideas and analyzes that have translated into original publications under Leon’s leadership.

-Leon is an old province with very few job opportunities. Can research teams be decentralized to power these regions caught in demographic winter?

-Research can happen at different speeds, and that is why regional coordination is necessary. At ISCIII we have CIBER, which works as a network throughout Spain with about 500 research groups and more than 6,000 researchers. The Health Research Institutes, which we have accredited by ISCIII and which now number 35, are another example of how to promote R&D&I in health throughout Spain. León, like other provinces and other communities of Castilla y León, can grow in research within the general model of regional cohesion, as long as the Autonomous Community recognizes this added value and promotes and encourages it.

– At least she is the second woman to head ISCIII. How do you value the presence of women in science today and especially in the case of this Centre?

-I’m actually the third. We had the first director who unfortunately was only there for a short time, Flora de Pablo. The second woman was Raquel Yotti, who directed ISCIII during the pandemic and with whom I have had the opportunity to work and learn. And now I have accepted this challenge. We continue to seek progress to bring true equality and full recognition of women’s work in science. In the case of ISCIII, we are an organization with a very high female presence. In addition to the above Directors, we have two Deputy Directors, most of our centers (CNM Microbiology, CNE Epidemiology, CNSA Environmental Health, IIER Rare Diseases, BNCS Library, and 70% of our total staff are women) are directed by women . We have more and more women directors in IIS, CIBER also has the presence of a woman director, CNIO has had a woman director for years… fortunately the situation is changing and adjusting. To give one last example, the presence of women in the largest call for research projects from the 2022 ISCIII, Aid for Health Research Projects (PIs) included in our Strategic Action in Health (AES), exceeds that of men for the first time. Went.

—Gender bias in medicine is due to differences between men and women not being studied well. Is the gender perspective applied in epidemiology and preventive medicine?

– It is essential to maintain a gender and gender perspective in scientific research, and this is particularly relevant in the field of health. Diseases and socioeconomic circumstances do not affect men and women equally. Furthermore, science, which must be inclusive, must be aware of these differences and take them into account.