Born in Valencia in 1951, Esteban Morcillo spent his childhood and adolescence in Oliva. Professor of Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, he was elected rector of the University of Valencia in the elections held in 2010, and re-elected for a second period in 2014. Graduate and doctor of medicine from the University of Valencia, He completed his training with Fulbright Scholarships and the Ministry of Education in North American John Hopkins University and University of Michigan and in the United Kingdom at the University of Strathclyde.

From his incorporation as an internal student, Professor Morcillo occupied all the teaching positions (scholarship holder, teacher in charge, assistant and aggregate) before reaching the university chair, first at the University of Alcalá and, since 1990, at the University of Valencia.

In the field of research he has developed a broad research activity, being the principal investigator of numerous projects funded by the Ministries of Education and Science and Health, the Generalitat Valenciana and the Health Institute Carlos III. His scientific work, specialized in asthma pharmacology and COPD, has been collected in more than 175 publications in international journals indexed in the Science Citation Index, as well as in numerous books in the fields of Pharmacology, Medicine and Dentistry. He also coordinated the Sector Program of Life and Health of the Valencian Plan of Science and Technology and was representative of the Interministerial Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT) in the Biomed2 and COST programs of the European Union, among other responsibilities such as the Presidency of the Spanish Society of Pharmacology. It has six six months researcher and six sixty years teaching.

Throughout his academic career, he has held various positions in university management, both at the University of Alcalá, where he was vice-rector of Research, and at the University of Valencia, where he held the positions of dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry in two consecutive periods (1999-2006), delegate of the Rector (2006-2007) and Vice Rector of Research and Scientific Policy (2007-2010). Elected Rector of the University of Valencia in 2010, he was re-elected in 2014 for a second and last term of government, in accordance with the Statutes of the University.

Esteban Morcillo is a student of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Valencian Community and a member of many state and international scientific societies. His scientific activity was recognized with the Galien Prize for research in Pharmacology.

During its first period at the front of the rectorate, the University of Valencia achieved recognition as Campus of International Excellence in its joint projects VLC / Campus and CAMPUSHABITAT5U, the institution obtained the award Ability Awards as the best organization of the public sector Spanish 2012, the CERMI prize for the inclusive dimension of disability in 2013 and, in the same year, as the best Erasmus institution in Spain.