The Prince of Asturias Foundation
Santiago Grisolía
Santiago Grisolía (Valencia, 1923) graduated in Medicine from the University of Valencia in 1944 and later earned his PhD in Madrid. In 1949, he decided to broaden his studies at the University of New York under the supervision of Severo Ochoa. At that time, he began research on carbon dioxide fixation, a subject he would continue to work on for the rest of his life. He lectured in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Universities of Kansas, Chicago and Wisconsin, making seminal discoveries in the last of these universities regarding the urea cycle which are of importance at both a basic and practical level. In parallel to this work, he continued his studies on carbon dioxide fixation and demonstrated that citrulline is actually an intermediate in the synthesis of urea, a fact which was also in dispute at that time. Grisolía’s work has focused on questions such as the enzymology of nitrogen metabolism in the urea cycle and the breakdown of pyrimidine, the metabolism of phosphoglycerate, the intracellular breakdown and replacement of proteins and the control of tubulin synthesis in the brain.
He has been a distinguished professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Kansas Medical Center (1973) and the Valencian Foundation for Biomedical Research (1992). He has also been: chairman of the UNESCO Scientific Steering Committee for the Human Genome Project (1988); executive chairman of the “King Jaime I” Awards; secretary of the Valencian Foundation for Advanced Studies; advisor to the Generalitat Valenciana for Science and Technology (1995); vice-president of the Jimenez Diaz Foundation (1995); chairman of the Jimenez Diaz Memorial Lesson; chairman of the Valencian Council of Culture (1996); member of the board of the Carlos III Health Institute (1996); member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (1996); member of the UNESCO International Scientific Board Advisory (1996); member of and/or adviser to the Ministry of Health, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Foundation, Ferrer Foundation, the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome, National R&D Plan (Interministerial Commission for Science and Technology) and the Colegio Libre de Eméritos; director of the Institute of Cytological Research (1976-1992); professor of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Kansas Medical Center (1962-1973); director of McIlvain Laboratories and professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at the University of Kansas Medical Center (1954-1962); assistant professor of the Department of Physiological Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin (1947-1954); visiting assistant professor at the University of Chicago (1946-1947); and research associate at the University of New York (1945-1946). He is an advisor to the Generalitat Valenciana for Science and Technology and has chaired the Valencian Council of Culture since 1996, the Advisory Boards of the Menendez Pelayo International University in Valencia and the Science Museums in Cuenca and Valencia. He has published over 400 scientific papers and around 30 dissemination articles, in addition to carrying out an immense amount of teaching and research work over many years in different countries in Europe and America. He currently chairs the Valencian Foundation for Advanced Studies and Research.
Salvador Moncada
Salvador Moncada was born in Tegucigalpa (Honduras) in 1944. After graduating in Medicine and Surgery from the University of El Salvador (1962-1970), he continued his studies, earning PhDs in Pharmacology (1973) and Science (1983) from the University of London. He taught at universities in El Salvador and Honduras and carried out various research studies at the Wellcome Research Laboratories, England, where he was head of the prostaglandin research team (1975-1985) and subsequently director of the therapeutic research division (1984-1986). Between 1986 and 1995, he was director of research of these laboratories. He is currently director of the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at the University of London. He also serves as Visiting Professor of Pharmacology at King’s College London. He is a fellow of The Royal Society and a foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
His main research has focused on the pharmacological effects of vasoactive substances, especially products of arachidonic acid metabolism, as well as on the synthesis, actions and breakdown of the biological mediator nitric oxide. He has also undertaken important work on inflammation, platelets, the interaction between platelets and the vessel wall, thrombosis and arteriosclerosis. The research he carried out during the Seventies led to the discovery of a substance called prostacyclin, a very powerful vasodilator that acts as an inhibitor of blood clots which clog arteries. His research on circulatory system-related drugs includes the development of the drug known as Viagra. He has co-authored and supervised more than 700 scientific publications .
Member of The Royal Society, the British Society of Pharmacology, the Colombian Society of Internal Medicine, the Peruvian Pharmacological Society and honorary member the Royal Medical Academy of Valencia, he holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Honduras and Cantabria and Madrid’s Complutense University. He holds five patents related to different drugs and has authored, co-authored or supervised around four hundred scientific publications . He has received several awards for his research, including the Dutch Academy’s Amsterdam Award and the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine (UK).
