The UAB community thanks Ana Ripoll for her "sense of belonging"
Ana Ripoll, professor in Computer Architecture and Technology and rector of the UAB from 2008 to 2012, offered a master lecture entitled "The Impact of Technology on People's Health" in an event in which the university paid tribute to her academic career. Javier Lafuente, current rector of the UAB, praised her "vision of the future" and her characteristic "sense of belonging", and described her as a "persistent" and "motivated" professional, and invited her to continue contributing her values to the University in this new stage in which Ripoll becomes emeritus professor by reminding her that: "we are counting on you".
Tomàs Margalef, director of the Department of Computer Architecture and Operating Systems, opened the event by evoking Ripoll's career from her incorporation to the UAB in 1978 to her role as promoter of the Bioinformatics Barcelona platform, a review that he illustrated by showing different photos of the honoree and her teams of collaborators over time. Next, Josep Enric Llebot, professor in the Department of Physics, who was Vice Rector for Economics during Ripoll's term as rector, recalled the years when, at the beginning of their academic careers, they coincided on a daily basis and talked in the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat train to the campus, and thanked her "for your friendship, which has been very enriching both in a personal and institutional sense".
In her speech, Ripoll declared herself "very happy" and "very proud" to have developed her career "with your company and your support". She stated that her dedication to the UAB is precisely what has made her focus on the "challenges of an increasingly digitised society" and to focus her efforts on the field of bioinformatics, which was the subject of her master class. According to her, "digital transformation is not only a technological change, but also a cultural change" that will, in fact, give rise to "a profound transformation of the human being".
She spoke about the impact that the management of large volumes of data will have on the health sector, based on the fact that "deciphering the genome opens the door to a medicine that takes into account the complexity of each individual". In addition, Ripoll predicted that artificial intelligence "will allow medicine to become more humanised", as it will make it easier for medical professionals to "dedicate more time to patients", and she predicted the development of "digital twins" which, as copies of individuals, will make it possible to test treatments or predict illnesses, adding a reflection on the ethical challenges posed by these scientific advances. "Today we are at the beginning of something w hich we cannot predict how it will end," she said.
The UAB, with Sustainable Development Goals
Good health and well-being
Quality education