Elena Gazapo’s career at the helm of healthcare education has been honoured at the 1st 360º Health Congress: Innovation, Prevention and Holistic Wellbeing, organised by the Merca2 group. The Vice-Chancellor of Universidad Europea de Madrid received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Healthcare Education at an event that brought together healthcare professionals, researchers and public authorities to reflect on the major challenges facing the sector. The award, presented by Fátima Matute, Regional Minister for Health of the Community of Madrid, recognises a career deeply rooted in medicine, research and teaching.
The award recognises the work of the Vice-Chancellor of Universidad Europea de Madrid and her approach to healthcare education, which is closely linked to the realities of patient care and the challenges of a sector undergoing constant transformation. In this regard, upon receiving the award, Elena Gazapo wished to highlight the value of the teaching staff at Universidad Europea and their direct link to professional practice. “I would like to highlight the more than 4,000 lecturers who collaborate with the University, all of whom are practising healthcare professionals, the majority from the Community of Madrid, working in public and private hospitals, health centres, organisations and scientific societies. Many thanks to them, because it is in their daily care of patients that they also find that teaching vocation and the generosity to train the more than 16,000 students who pass through our classrooms each year.”
The Vice-Chancellor also emphasised the ultimate purpose of this educational work, which aims to prepare competent professionals who are also committed to people: “We have been dedicated to education for years, from the youngest students realising their healthcare vocation to professionals who need to update their skills to face the challenges of the present and the future. We want to train competent professionals, but above all to reinforce their commitment to people, to health and to the quality of life of society.”
Elena Gazapo, who holds a PhD in Immunology and a degree in Medicine and Surgery, has built a career that combines clinical practice, research and academic leadership. Early in her career, she worked as a researcher in the Immunology Department at the San Carlos University Hospital in Madrid and in the Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Unit at the Carlos III Health Institute. Following a stint in the pharmaceutical sector and having served as Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences at Universidad Europea de Madrid, she has held the position of Vice-Chancellor of the institution since 2019.
This recognition reinforces the role of Universidad Europea as an institution closely linked to the healthcare ecosystem, capable of integrating teaching, clinical practice, innovation and research in the training of new generations of healthcare professionals. A track record that finds in Elena Gazapo a leading figure due to her ability to promote a rigorous, up-to-date academic vision that is deeply rooted in the realities of the sector.
Universidad Europea presence at the Congress has also extended to other parts of the programme, with the participation of Professor Juan José Beunza, Director of AI Health at Universidad Europea, in a panel discussion on innovation in artificial intelligence and the medicine of the future, and with a presentation by Paloma Fuentes González, a medical expert in neuroscience and director of the Master’s in Happiness Design at Creative Campus, entitled ‘Consciousness and Compassion’.
