The Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of its Digestive System Department on October 24, in an event that will bring together specialists from all over Spain to reflect on half a century of clinical progress, scientific innovation, and commitment to patients.
The ceremony will take place in the Gómez Durán Auditorium of the HUMV and will feature the participation of physicians, nursing staff, researchers, former department heads, residents, and patient associations, in a day that will combine tribute, knowledge sharing, and a forward-looking perspective.
The event will be opened by Dr. Antonio Cuadrado, current Head of the Digestive System Department, who will welcome attendees and present the program.
The inaugural lecture, titled “A 21st-Century Digestive System Department,” will be delivered by two historical figures of the department: Dr. Fernando Pons, Head from 1975 to 2010, and Dr. Javier Crespo, Head from 2010 to 2024. Both will review the evolution of the department since its origins and the milestones that have established HUMV as a national benchmark in the specialty.
Round Tables: The Evolution of a Dynamic and Multidisciplinary Department
The program will include six round tables addressing the department’s main areas of care, innovation, and teaching:
• The current footprint of a dynamic department. Lessons from the past, with the participation of specialists from different generations and leading hospitals.
• The role of nursing and the multidisciplinary team, focused on the evolution of the patient profile, the growing complexity of care, and the essential role of nursing in hospitalization, endoscopy, and liver transplantation.
• Approaching disease and its prevention with and by patients, featuring collaborations with associations of people with inflammatory bowel disease, liver disorders, and celiac disease.
• The unstoppable progress of endoscopy, reviewing the technological and organizational evolution of one of the department’s most cutting-edge areas.
• The “reinvention” of liver diseases, highlighting Valdecilla’s pioneering role in liver transplantation and advanced hepatology.
• A department with a teaching and research vocation, dedicated to medical residents and to clinical and translational research promoted by the HUMV-IDIVAL group.
The day will conclude with the screening of a commemorative video celebrating the department’s 50th Anniversary, paying tribute to the professionals who have contributed to its growth over the past five decades.
About the Digestive System Department of HUMV
Founded in 1974, the Digestive System Department of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital has become a national and international reference in the diagnosis, treatment, and research of digestive and liver diseases.
Its history is marked by clinical excellence, technological innovation, specialized teaching, and translational research, as well as a strong commitment to the humanization of healthcare.
