With minimum physical presence at the headquarters of the ADEIT Foundation, limited to authorities and award winners, and streamed live: this is how the 24th ceremony of the University-Society Awards of the University of Valencia’s Board of Trustees was held. The event was attended by the regional minister for Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society, Carolina Pascual; the principal of the University of Valencia, María Vicenta Mestre; and the president of the Board of Trustees of the University and the ADEIT Foundation, María Emilia Adán. 

In addition to the aforementioned attendees, the founder of the Imegen laboratory, Ángela Pérez, was the winner of the Alumni Plus award. This category aims to recognise the professional, academic and business excellence of former students of the University of Valencia with a proven track record that shows an exemplary and particularly relevant contribution to the progress of society. Ángela Pérez graduated in Biological Sciences in 1996 from the University of Valencia and founded her first biotech company at the early age of 23, in 1998.

She is currently involved in up to eight business initiatives, focused on genetics and genomics, among which stands out Imegen, an internationally leading entity in human genetic diagnosis. At the moment, she is CEO and chairwoman of the board of directors of this biotech company, which analyses more than 22,000 samples a year and invests more than one million euros in R&D projects each year.

Teaching staff awarded for Teaching Excellence
The University-Society Awards also aim to highlight the professionalism of the teaching staff linked to the University of Valencia through the Teaching Excellence award. In this year’s edition, the awards went to Ana Zorio, professor of the Department of Accounting, and Cristóbal Zaragoza, adjunct professor of the Department of Surgery of the University of Valencia.

Recognition of Alfonso Maldonado
The event gave special recognition to notary Alfonso Maldonado for his time as vice-president of the Board of Trustees of the University of Valencia and ADEIT. María Emilia Adán, the current president of the board, highlighted Alfonso Maldonado’s work on behalf of Valencian society: “he was characterised by his generosity and profound spirit of civic and institutional service, of which his most eminent ancestors would have been particularly proud”. 

The president of the Board of Trustees of the University, María Emilia Adán, stressed the need to make higher education a political priority and to provide universities with means to deal with “the demands of this essential public service”. “We are now more aware than ever that science and research save lives. If we truly invest in universities, higher education, science and research, then this health crisis will not have unduly damaged the education of our students and their future”.

The principal of the University of Valencia, Mavi Mestre, emphasised the value of these awards as an example of the recognition of talent and track record of companies and institutions and of the collaboration between the university and society.