Mara Dierssen Sotos

Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Cantabria (UC) in 1985. She is the team leader of the Systems Biology programme at Barcelona Centre for Genomic Regulation, and she is also a collaborating professor in pre- and post-graduate education at various universities.
Mara Dierssen Sotos has been the president of the International Behavior and Genetics Society, and she has been a member of the board of directors and vice president of the Spanish Neurosciences Society, of which she is currently the president, as well as holding executive positions in several other societies. She is a member of DANA Alliance for Brain Initiatives and of the Academia Europaea, and she is a member of the editorial committee of a large number of international journals. She has published over 130 scientific articles in internationally indexed journals, and she is also the author of several publications in popular science magazines and books.

She has received several awards for her research on Down syndrome: the Ramon Trias Fargas Prize (2005, 2007, 2013), the Jaime Blanco Prize (2006, 2010), the Sisley Lejeune Prize (2011), the National Scientific Thought and Culture Prize of Catalonia, the Laura Iglesias Prize (2008), and the 2014 David and Hillie Mahoney Award, among others. She has also been a member of the Culture Council of Barcelona, of the board of trustees of the Institute of Culture of Barcelona, and of several scientific advisory councils.