- CRS (Controlled Release Society) is the leading worldwide scientific organization in the area of controlled release of drugs
María José Alonso, Professor of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), received the prestigious “CRS Founders Award”, the highest distinction granted by the Controlled Release Society, Inc. (CRS, Inc), the worldwide leading organization in delivery sciences and technologies. Alonso was awarded this honor in a ceremony celebrated last Sunday during the 2018 CRS Annual Meeting in New York. On July 24 she will also become President of this Society.
The Controlled Release Society grants the Founders Award to a current CRS member who is internationally recognized for outstanding contributions in the science and technology of controlled release. Thirty-six scientists have received this award since 1982. María José Alonso is the first woman being honored with this distinction, which recognizes her out-standing research carreer.
Elected Member of the College of Fellows of the CRS
Together with this honor, Alonso joined the CRS College of Fellows, the most prestigious level of membership in CRS, counting with 102 scientists from all over the word.
The College of Fellows recognizes CRS members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of delivery science and technology over a minimum of 10 years. Contributions may have been technical, scientific, and/or managerial in one or more fields of research, commercial development, education, and/or leadership within the areas of interest to CRS.
Alonso’s research trajectory
These are new recognitions of the outstanding career of Professor Alonso by international scientific institutions, after her election to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2016 and to the prestigious College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering’s (AIMBE) in 2017.
María José Alonso’s lab (https://www.usc.gal/grupos/mjalonsolab/) has pioneered numerous discoveries in the field of Nanopharmaceutical Technology and nanomedicine. She has coordinated several research consortia financed by the WHO, the Gates Foundation and the European Commission. Currently, she is involved in 7 international projects, 5 of them financed by the European Commission. She is the author of over 260 scientific contributions with more than 15,300 cites (H factor 69) and the inventor of 20 patent families. Because of the quality of her scientific articles she has been among the TOP TEN in Pharmacology (Times Higher Education international ranking, Thomson Reuters, 2010).
She also serves on the editorial board of 11 journals. In 2006-10, she was the Vice-rector of Research and Innovation of the USC. She has advised the Ministry of Sciences and Innovation in the elaboration of the Law of Sciences, Technology and Innovation, and, she has been part of the advisory council of the Ministry of Health in Spain.
She has received numerous awards, including the ‘King Jaume I Award’ on New Technologies, the ‘Maurice Marie Janot Award’, the ‘María Josefa Wonenburger Award’, and recently the ‘Castelao Medal’. She is also a member of three Academies in Spain and the US National Academy of Medicine.
A long commitment with the CRS
María José has also held responsibilities in several scientific societies, among them the CRS. She first contributed to the CRS as the Founder of the Spanish-Portuguese Local Chapter (1994), later as a Governor (1995), as a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors (2012), as a Director-at-Large (2013), as a Secretary (2016) and, since 2017, as a President Elect.
The Controlled Release Society (CRS) is a global organization whose main goal is “Advancing delivery science and technology to solve global challenges”. In that sense, CRS, the leading worldwide society in this field, gathers delivery scientists, engineers, clinicians, and technical professionals in a multidisciplinary network oriented to broaden the knowledge and the applications of delivery science and technology.
