Eduardo Bruera, a world leader in palliative care, received the honorary degree of doctor honoris causa from the University UIC Barcelona on May 18th. The investiture took place during a solemn ceremony in the Aula Magna of the university. The ceremony marked the beginning of the Symposium People, Care and Society, organized by UIC Barcelona from May 18th to 20th.
During the event, Bruera, founder of the Department of Palliative Medicine, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine at MD Anderson, Houston (the largest center in the United States in his specialty), expressed his concern at the lack of progress in palliative care over the last 25 years, despite its obvious economic impact. According to the renowned specialist, money, structures and efforts need to be focused on the patients instead of the disease.
In his keynote lecture, entitled “Palliative care in today’s society,” Bruera urged the authorities of public and private health systems, the pharmaceutical industry and those responsible for hospitals to commit to palliative care, stating that it should be a permanent part of the system. He also stressed the importance of incorporating knowledge in palliative care in the face of the growing presence of artificial intelligence, since this cannot replace the ability to listen to and accompany patients.
Bruera praised the role played by the Cuides UIC Barcelona clinic in end-of-life care and recalled that palliative care originally emerged outside academia in the 1960s.
During his speech, the oncologist emphasized the need for interdisciplinary teams and specialized units to provide comprehensive care to patients and their families. The aim is to alleviate unnecessary suffering and to maintain telemedicine as a way of providing specialized treatment even in rural areas.
Prior to Bruera’s investiture, Josep Porta, former director of the WeCare: End-of-Life Care Chair at UIC Barcelona and former head of the Palliative Care Service at the Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO), highlighted in the laudatio the oncologist’s contributions to medicine in general and palliative care in particular. Porta highlighted Bruera’s leadership in research over the last 30 years, whose pioneering contributions have become standard practice in this discipline.
The rector of UIC Barcelona, Alfonso Méndiz, closed the event by praising Bruera’s humanistic vision and his focus on putting people at the center of medical care. He highlighted his ability to develop a clinical assessment methodology that has become a worldwide benchmark and his generosity towards others. Méndiz emphasized that, in an ever-changing technological world, Dr. Bruera has been able to put science at the service of people.
We would like to remind you that those who could not attend the ceremony in person still have the opportunity to enjoy this moment through the following link: https://www.youtube.com/live/URE5N41zgPg?feature=share.
He also conducted interviews for the newspapers El País and El Periódico. You can consult these interviews through the following links:
Interview in El País: https://elpais.com/salud-y-bienestar/2023-05-29/eduardo-bruera-experto-en-cuidados-paliativos-se-puede-aliviar-siempre-el-sufrimiento-pero-eliminarlo-no.html
Interview in El Periódico: https://www.elperiodico.com/es/opinion/20230528/eduardo-bruera-experto-paliativos-entrevista-87866489
