Josep Dalmau, Group Leader at the CaixaResearch Institute and at IDIBAPS, is an international reference in the study of autoimmune encephalitis. Throughout his career, he has made decisive contributions to the identification and characterisation of new diseases of this kind, including anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a discovery that transformed the understanding of certain neurological disorders and opened new pathways for their diagnosis and treatment.

Thanks to this contribution, Dr Dalmau has been awarded the Jiménez Díaz Memorial Lecture Award, one of Spain’s longest-standing and most prestigious biomedical distinctions.

Today, 18 types of autoimmune encephalitis are known, and more than half have been identified by Dr Dalmau’s team. The diagnostic tools and clinical protocols developed by his group are now used in hospitals around the world, making it possible for the vast majority of patients who previously went undiagnosed to receive a specific treatment and, in many cases, make a full recovery.

Behind these results lies a scientific career built over more than two decades, developed at leading institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the University of Pennsylvania, and recognised with distinctions including the King Jaume I Award, the 2025 Spanish National Prize for Research in Medicine, and his election as a member of the US National Academy of Medicine. But beyond the awards, what defines Dr Dalmau’s career is research always oriented towards the patient: from the clinical case to the laboratory, and from the laboratory back to the clinic. It is precisely this impact that the Conchita Rábago Foundation has sought to recognise with this distinction.

For us, having researchers such as Dr Dalmau is a reflection of the CaixaResearch Institute’s commitment to attracting and bringing together the best scientific talent, with the aim of generating a real impact on people’s health.

A distinction with more than fifty years of history

The Jiménez Díaz Memorial Lecture Award is a distinction granted annually by the Conchita Rábago de Jiménez Díaz Foundation to individuals or institutions that have stood out for their contributions to research or clinical practice in the field of medicine. It was created in 1969 by the widow of Professor Carlos Jiménez Díaz — considered the most influential Spanish physician of the 20th century — with the aim of preserving his memory and promoting biomedical research in Spain.

The award consists of a gold medal bearing the effigy of Carlos Jiménez Díaz, an accreditation diploma and a cash prize, and requires the recipient to deliver a keynote lecture in the Aula Magna of the Jiménez Díaz Foundation in Madrid, as part of a scientific symposium.

The importance of the award is reflected in the profile of its recipients: 17 of those honoured have received a Nobel Prize. They include Severo Ochoa (the first recipient, in 1969), Hans A. Krebs and Katalin Karikó, as well as leading figures in immunology such as Gerald M. Edelman, for his discoveries on the chemical structure of antibodies; Luc Montagnier, for the discovery of the AIDS virus; and César Milstein, for his work on monoclonal antibodies.