Matias A Avila

I graduated in Pharmacy at Madrid’s Complutense University in 1988 with an average score of 3.6 over 4. Between 1989-92 I earned my Ph.D. degree in the laboratory of Prof. Jose M Mato, at the Institute for Biomedical Research (IIB) “Alberto Sols” of the National Research Council (CSIC) under the supervision of Prof. Isabel Varela. My thesis work was awarded the extraordinary prize at the School of Pharmacy in 1992. From 1992 until 1995 I was a postdoctoral researcher funded by a CSIC fellowship at the laboratory of Prof. Vicente Notario, in the Lombardi Cancer Center of Georgetown University, in Washington DC, where I worked on the molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. In 1995 I returned to Spain with a researcher’s contract from the CSIC and spent two years back at the IIB until 1997 when I joined the University of Navarra in Pamplona as Assistant Professor. Since my return to Spain, my research has focused on the mechanisms underlying the hepatic response to acute and chronic injury and tumorigenesis, with the aim of identifying therapeutic targets and strategies to impede fibrosis development, stimulate regeneration and quell liver cancer growth. Since 2009 I am Professor of Biochemistry (ANECA evaluation) and Senior Scientist at the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) of the University of Navarra, where I teach courses at the Schools of Medicine and Science. From 2014 I am the director of the Hepatology Program at CIMA. Since I started my independent research 18 years ago, I have mentored junior scientists from the Juan de la Cierva, Miguel Servet, Ramón y Cajal, and Marie-Curie-EU programs. I have supervised, or co-supervised, 13 doctoral theses. For the past 18 years, my research has been uninterruptedly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness or Science, and the Navarra Government. I have also received funding from private sources, as the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), or the British AMMF foundation to fight cholangiocarcinoma. We also collaborate with the industry through research agreements, such as those signed with the Belgian company Iteos Therapeutics or the American biotech Moderna Therapeutics. Our research has been published in the top journals of the specialty, such as Gastroenterology, Gut, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, and other high-quality journals like Nature Medicine, Nature Comm, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Cancer Research, Science Signaling, Oncogene, etc. I have been a member of the governing boards of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) (2011-14) and of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH)(2015-17). I have been member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Site for Integrated Cancer Research (SIRIC) of Bordeaux, France (2014-18). Currently, I am a member of the SAB of the Institut Cochin, Paris, France and of the HUNTER consortium (Hepatocellular Carcinoma Expediter Network) funded by CRUK, AIRC, and AECC. I was Associate Editor of the Gut journal (British Association of Gastroenterology)(2011-19) and since July 2019 I am Associate Editor of the Journal of Hepatology (the EASL journal). I am currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the major journals in the field, Gastroenterology and Hepatology.