About

The Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Region (FISABIO) is a non-profit scientific and assistance organization whose paramount end is the promotion, impulse and development of the scientific-technical, sanitary and biomedical research in the Valencian Region. FISABIO integrates and manages the Health Research Map of the Centre for Public Health Research, Dr. Peset University Hospital Foundation, Alicante University General Hospital Foundation, Elche University General Hospital Foundation, and the Mediterranean Ophthalmological Foundation. In addition, FISABIO assumes the scientific activity of other 18 Public Health Departments of the Regional Ministry of Health.

Thanks to its functional structure, FISABIO provides service to more than 1.500 professionals of the Valencian Health Services network and manages the research work and clinical trials carried out by these specialists. As result of the research activity, more than 500 scientific papers have been published, nearly accounting for 1520 impact factor points. FISABIO represents the effort of Generalitat Valenciana to support the policies of Public Health research so that applied research, with the aim of obtaining new knowledge and tools to increase the level of population health.
FISABIO workforce stands out for its experience and high level of specialisation in the field of managing research projects. Its team consists of a framework of 384 people, a varying number of the 260 scientists assigned to different research projects and 124 staff members for Management Services and Scientific Advancement.

Within FISABIO, the Vaccine Research Department studies the impact that infectious disease, which can be prevented by vaccination, has on society. This involves an understanding of the social burden and costs associated with disease. The vaccines are studied for effectiveness during routine vaccination programmes in the Valencian Region, with the use of epidemiological studies of the disease before and after the start of vaccination. The department carries out the clinical development of vaccines, studies on the vaccine safety and effectiveness, and designs and implements studies (clinical trials) allowing for changes to be made in vaccination guidelines, ensuring coordination with the vaccination calendar.

Currently, thirteen people are conducting several research projects. observational studies and clinical trials in the Vaccine Research Department of FISABIO whose Head is Dr. Javier Díez-Domingo. Five of these thirteen people include Pharmacists, Sociologists, Statisticians and other investigators.

Role in the project

FISABIO as Project Coordinator brings health professionals with a large experience in clinical trials and also in ethics committees, as well as sociologists with experience in gender related problems. Besides there is a team of experienced personnel in the coordination of EU projects, that will also input on the social perspective of the project.

As a third party, of FISABIO, the Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir (UCV) gives the opportunity to provide large experience on the validation of assents for minors participating in clinical trials. UCV will be very important in the assent validation performed in WP3.

Dr. Javier Diez-Domingo

Dr. Javier Diez-Domingo is Head of the Vaccine Research Department, MD paediatrician (1987), PhD degree (1990).

He has over 235 scientific papers with more than 2.200 citations. He has devoted more than 20 years of clinical epidemiological research on vaccines and immunopreventable diseases, and has worked as PI in more than 40 clinical trials with vaccines. Expert on evaluation of new drugs in paediatrics for the EMA. Member of different Ethics Committees since 2000 and President of the DG-Public Health EC since 2015. Active member of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), chair of the Committee for Education, member of the Spanish Pediatric Society, the Spanish Vaccinology Association and the International Society for Vaccines.

Email: jdiezdomingo@gmail.com
Phone: (+34) 961925937

Team

JAIME FONS-MARTINEZ

Degree in Sociology and in Business Management and Administration, Master’s Degree in Sociology and Anthropology of Public Policy and Expert in Gender Violence. Has been working as sociologist investigating and developing Strategies for Health Care Providers to Address Gender Violence, and as professor in the Valencian School for Health Studies (EVES) and in the University of Valencia teaching subjects related to sociology, health and gender. He will work as Technical Manager of the project focused in the scientific review of gender and age-related issues of informed consent (Task 1.2). He is also responsible of the IC guidelines development (WP3) and the development of new strategies for improving health literacy for participants in clinical trials (Task 2.7). He collaborates also in Task 1.5 (Legal issues) and Task 1.6 (patient involvement in vaccine research).
Email: fons_jai@gva.es

FERNANDO CALVO-RIGUAL

MD, PhD. Head of Pediatrics in FISABIO-Hospital LLuís Alcanyís from Xàtiva (Valencia, Spain). He received his MD degree as paediatrician in 1981, and his PhD degree (cum laude) in 1990 from the University of Valencia. He is Bachelor of Philosophy from the UNED. Member of the GIBUV (Bioethics Investigation Team for the University of Valencia). He is involved in the systematic review of the age-related issues associated with the acquisition of informed consent (Task 1.2) and int he validation of the informes consent guidelines (Task 3.3).
Email: calvo_fer@gva.es

CRISTINA FERRER-ALBERO

PhD nurse of FISABIO’s Third Party Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir (UCV). She has large experience on the validation of assents for minors participating in clinical trials. She participates in Task 1.2 in the systematic review of scientific literature of age-related issues associated with informed consent and in the validation of the guidelines of the informed consent in the target population (Task 3.3).
Email: cristina.ferrer@ucv.es

MONICA VÁZQUEZ-MORENO

Chemical Engineer and Master of Advanced Studies in Chemical Engineering (University of Valencia). She has broad experience in the management of EC-funded R&D projects (FP7, H2020, IMI, LIFE, INTERREG, MSCA, etc). She works as Financial Project Manager and is involved in all tasks included in WP5 (Management and Exploitation). She also collaborates in Task 1.1 in the review of previous and on-going EC funded projects for the evalution of their results and establishment of new synergies.
Email: vazquez_monmor@gva.es

VALLE MORALES CUENCA

Graduated in Biotechnology (Polytechnic University of Valencia) with a Master’s Degree in Molecular Biology Applied to Biotechnology Companies from the University of Granada. She currently works as project manager of  Horizon 2020, IMI and the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017-2020 funded projects.      Email: valle.morales@fisabio.es

JÚLIA GARCIA-BAYARRI

Graduate degree in Journalism and Masters in Human Rights, Globalization and Democracy. With experience in the field of Communications, Marketing and PR she is involved in WP4 leading the project’s Communication, Dissemination and Sustainability.
Email: garcia_julbay@gva.es

Other Partners