Xavier Bonfill and Gerard Urrútia awarded honorary doctorates

Xavier Bonfill, who was awarded an honorary doctorate on 8 June, is director of the Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Service at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. The University Council of the UTE University of Quito awarded him this distinction in recognition of his teaching and research merits and his promotion of evidence-based medicine in Ecuador and in many other Ibero-American countries over the past 25 years as director of the Ibero-American Cochrane Network.

The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the UTE University, Daniel Simancas, acted as Professor Bonfill's sponsor, while the Rector of the UTE University, Ricardo Hidalgo, highlighted that this distinction is only the fifth awarded in the history of the university and the second one received by a Spanish citizen after Federico Mayor Zaragoza. Bonfill gave a master class on the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in medical education.

Gerard Urrútia is an assistant doctor at the Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Service of the Hospital de Santa Creu i Sant Pau and the current director of the Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre and the Iberoamerican Cochrane Network. He received the highest distinction from the University of Valparaíso on 12 June in recognition of his professional career and his close teaching and research links with the Chilean university.

The rector of the University of Valparaíso, Osvaldo Corrales, presented him with the award and the professor of the School of Medicine, Eva Madrid, gave the corresponding laudatio. In his lecture, Urrútia reviewed his links with Chile and the University of Valparaíso, spoke of the meaning and values of epidemiology and public health, and praised the values of the word, precise expression, commitment and teamwork.