Pedro Alonso Receives Honorary Doctorate from Rey Juan Carlos University

Epidemiologist Pedro Alonso, founder and former director of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), has received an honorary doctorate from Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid. The ceremony took place on Friday, 5 February at the Faculty of Health Sciences on the University’s Alcorcón campus.

The honorary doctorate recognises Dr Alonso’s many achievements, and especially his leadership in the global battle against what he has called “the mother of all poverty-related diseases”, which led him to his current position as director of the Global Malaria Programme at the World Health Organisation (WHO). It also honours Dr Alonso for his role in the creation, in 1996, of the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM), a Mozambican institution that was one of the recipients of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 2008.

The University’s announcement of the award also highlights Dr Alonso’s role in creating, in 2014, the Mozambican Alliance Towards Elimination of Malaria (MALTEM), an initiative supported by the “la Caixa” Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. MALTEM is a large-scale pilot project that aims to combat malaria in Mozambique using all means currently available and generate the evidence needed to advance the science of malaria elimination.

Dr Alonso stepped down as director of ISGlobal in September 2014 to become the director of the Global Malaria Programme at the WHO. Several months later, the WHO announced a new global malaria strategy that aims to reduce the global disease burden by at least 90% and eliminate malaria in at least 35 new countries by 2030.

Dr Alonso received his first honorary doctorate, from the European University of Madrid, in 2008.