The Board of Trustees unanimously dismisses the director, María Blasco, and the Center Manager | Science | EUROtoday

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The Board of Trustees of the National Oncological Research Center (CNIO) has ceased its director, María Blasco, and its supervisor, Juan Arroyo, because the nation superior, in keeping with sources near the Board of Trustees. The determination has been made unanimously.

The Board of Trustees “has decided to respond to the need to initiate a new stage in the CNI The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities as Center for Excellence Severo Ochoa, ”stated the company in a press release. The employers have unanimously determined “to cease their functions both to their current scientific director and the managing director of the center.” They additionally comply with “appoint Fernando Peláez as an interim scientific director and commission the CNIO delegate commission, chaired by Carlos III Health Institute, administrative and accounting management interim.” The employers additionally comply with “initiate the process of opening an international public tender for the search for a new scientific direction for the center.” “Finally, he wants to expressly thank the work that takes place in the center,” concludes the assertion. Neither a phrase of because of Blasco nor the supervisor.

The cessations suppose the tip of an period. María Blasco has been the director of the CNIO since 2011, and with it in entrance this physique arrived at its highest ranges of excellence and visibility. But from inside doorways, the CNIO has suffered for years one of many worst crises in its historical past because it was created in 1998. Some of its fundamental infrastructure are out of date, its scientific management is in decline and the manufacturing of most high quality research has dropped Significantly lately, in keeping with two inside experiences. In addition, since December alleged instances of harassment, abuse of energy, abuse and different issues by Blasco towards some workers have been identified. Half of the scientific chiefs of the middle had demanded the cessation of Blasco to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, directed by Diana Morant.

Since the outbreak of this disaster in December, Blasco has denied all duty within the issues detected within the heart and has loaded towards the supervisor, Juan Arroyo, with whom he maintains a confrontation virtually since she reached the path. The Alicante molecular biologist, 59, has assured that she has by no means harassed anybody in her life and has declared herself a sufferer of harassment herself for being a lady. It has additionally been attacked by an alleged media defamation marketing campaign, and claims to have undertaken a authorized battle towards media, in addition to denounced earlier than the Prosecutor’s Office alleged irregularities, with out offering proof of this. This similar Monday Blasco wrote to the members of the Board of Trustees holding these arguments and denouncing that he feels pursued by a misinformation marketing campaign.

The CNIO is ruled by a patronage with state, autonomous illustration and in addition personal foundations. Within this organ there may be lots of concern in regards to the reputational injury that the CNIO is struggling on this disaster, partly due to Blasco’s resistance to resign with out making noise, in keeping with sources of the organism.

The Board of Trustees is chaired by the Secretary General of Investigation of the Ministry of Science, Eva Ortega Paíno, a chemistry that is aware of effectively the issues of the CNIO, as a result of even his appointment labored there as a scientist. In the Board of Trustees, Marina Pollán, director of the Carlos III Health Institute, Javier Padilla Bernáldez, Secretary of State for Health, Eloísa del Pino Matute, president of the Superior Council of Scientific Research, Borja Monreal Gainza, director of the Department of Policy Public of the Government Presidency Cabinet, Ángela Nieto Toledano, of the Advisory Council of Science, Technology and Innovation. Four Autonomous Communities – Castilla y León, Baleares, Murcia and Extremadura are additionally represented – and 4 personal employers: La Caixa Foundation (which has not attended the assembly), BBVA Foundation, Cris Foundation and the Spanish Association towards Cancer.

The goodbye of Blasco

“Thank you, CNIO, for these 14 years,” stated María Blasco in a farewell electronic mail for the workers of the company to which the nation has had entry. “I am, above all, a public servant,” he stated. “My position for 14 years has always been clear: this position is always available for another investigating partner to build on what was achieved. Always subject, therefore, as the statutes of the Foundation say, to which the Board of Trustees estimates. In life you have to know how to go and know how to leave, ”he added.

“From now on I want to dedicate myself to studying telomeres and their role in diseases, including cancer,” the scientist defined to this newspaper in a WhatsApp message. He has not specified if he hopes to do it within the CNIO or in one other heart.

Precisely this Wednesday the display screen of END (PROLOGUES)a piece by Dora García on the Arctic that was exhibited on the entrance of the Cnio Auditorium, and that was a part of the controversial Cnio Arte program created by Blasco in 2018, now suspended by the Board of Trustees.

Do you might have extra details about this case or different related ones? You can write to ndominguez@elpais.es.

https://elpais.com/ciencia/2025-01-29/el-patronato-del-cnio-destituye-a-maria-blasco-y-al-gerente.html