• The selection process has been carried out through an open and competitive process with 11 candidacies from several autonomous communities.

The board of trustees of Navarrabiomed-Miguel Servet Foundation, composed of representatives of the Government of Navarra and the Public University of Navarra and which manages the Navarrabiomed public biomedical research centre, has recently appointed the clinical neurologist and researcher Maite Mendioroz Iriarte as the new scientific director of this centre. Dr. Mendioroz underwent an open and competitive selection process with the participation of a total of 11 candidacies from several autonomous communities. 

Maite Mendioroz Iriarte (Pamplona, 1972) has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Navarra (1996) and studied the specialty of neurology (MIR) at the Donostia Hospital. She continued her training at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital- Institut de Recerca (2006-2010), where she completed her doctoral thesis at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. From 2010-2012 she completed her training in neuroepigenetics with a stay as a Visiting Scientist at Columbia University (New York, United States).

Since 2010, Mendioroz has been part of the medical team of the Neurology Service of the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN), where she is the Research Coordinator and has worked in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. She has combined healthcare work with the leadership of the NeuroEpigenetics Unit from Navarrabiomed, thanks to the Intensification Program of La Caixa Banking Foundation, Caja Navarra Banking Foundation and Navarrabiomed and the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII). 

Throughout her career she has been a resident tutor and has directed 4 doctoral theses and 12 competitive national and international projects that have led to 98 scientific publications. She has participated in the evaluation of projects at the State Research Agency and as a panellist in Technical Evaluation Commissions of the ISCIII. She also has many acknowledgements and awards: Alberto Rábano National Prize for the best thesis in neuroscience from the Romanillos Foundation (2011), in 2018 she was named an Honorary Member of the European Council of Doctors, TELVA Prize for sciences 2018 and ranking Top 100 Leading Women in Spain 2021.

Mendioroz takes over from the UPNA Professor of Microbiology and Navarrabiomed researcher Inigo Lasa Uzcudun, who had been the director since November 2015 combining this work with the leadership of the Microbial Pathogenesis Unit of Navarrabiomed. 

About Navarrabiomed
Navarrabiomed is a public research centre created in 2012, promoted by the Department of Health of the Government of Navarra. Its mission is to promote, facilitate and conduct biomedical research to implement and develop therapies that improve the quality of the public health system.  Since 2016 and thanks to an agreement with the Public University of Navarra, Navarrabiomed has been developed as a joint centre with the aim of promoting biomedical research and enhancing the competitiveness of the bio-health sector of the region.

Currently, the centre is divided into 18 research units and 6 scientific-technical services for the promotion of scientific research and technological development, which bring together a total of 120 researchers. Through its support units, Navarrabiomed facilitates and promotes the research carried out by more than 250 health professionals from other public centres in the region.

The Miguel Servet Foundation is the body that manages the activity of the Navarrabiomed biomedical research centre since its creation. In parallel, the Foundation also acts as a scientific and technical support platform for Public health administration professionals for the development of research, innovation and training activities.