Professor Dr. Fernando Simón, Full University Professor of Parasitology in the University of Salamanca, taught a lecture on Filariasis on 11 and 12 January in the Aula Master.
18 january 2017
He is Graduate and Doctor in Biology by the University of Salamanca (USAL) in 1977 and 1983, respectively, and Doctor Honoris Causa at the Rostov State Medical University of Rostov on Don, Russia. Since 1979 he is a professor in the USAL, being nowadays a Full University Professor of Parasitology and Director of the Department of Animal Biology, Parasitology, Ecology, Edaphology and Agricultural Chemistry of this University.
Between 1991 and 1992 he carried out researches in the Laboratory of Immunology and Parasite Pathology of the Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, where he received a Mobility Grant for Research Staff of the Ministry of Education and Science. He has also taught Parasitology and transference of knowledge and technology to enterprises in the Universities of Puerto Rico, Milan and Coimbra, and his laboratory has participated in training exchanges for graduates and students of the Universities of Puerto Rico, Milan and Antioquia (Medellín, Colombia), financed by institutions of the United States, the European Union and Spain.
He has also taught Parasitology and transference of knowledge and technology to enterprises in the Universities of Puerto Rico, Milan and Coimbra.
He has taught conferences on different aspects of Parasitology and cooperative research with companies in America and Europe. His research has been focused on vector-transmitted parasitic helmintozoonosis, mainly in aspects related to the epidemiology and influence of climate change, development of diagnostic tests, molecular mechanisms of the relationship between Dirofilaria and its human, canine and feline hosts, field in which he has been working for more than 25 years, in collaboration with universities and national and international companies.
He has authored more than 170 publications and registered 6 patents, leading European and national projects and contracts with companies. He is an honorary member of the Don Small Animal Veterinary Association and member of the American Heartworm Society i de la European Society of Dirofilariasis and Angyostrongilosis, of which he has been president between 2012 and 2014.
He has been awarded with the Golden Lancet 2010 prize of the Russian Small Animal Veterinary Association (RSAVA), for his contribution to the development of the research on animal and human dirofilariasis in Russia, and the María de Maeztu award for Excellence of the University of Salamanca in 2015.
