The immunologist and professor Carola García de Vinuesa has been distinguished this Friday in Stockholm (Sweden) with the ACES-Margarita Salas 2026 Award, an accolade that recognizes her scientific contributions in the field of autoimmune diseases.
"I feel deeply grateful and honored. Receiving this recognition from my country and under the name of Margarita Salas makes it especially exciting for me," García noted upon receiving the award.
The award has a monetary endowment of 10,000 euros, in addition to a diploma and an artistic work, in each of the three categories that are awarded annually and rotationally. "Devoting myself to science has given me enormous satisfactions: the possibility of discovering, of working with extraordinary people from all over the world, and, at times, of seeing how a discovery can end up having a real impact on people's lives," García emphasized, a member of the Royal Society and Deputy Director of Research and Principal Investigator at the Francis Crick Institute in London (United Kingdom).
The ceremony, which took place at the Embassy of Spain in Sweden, was presided over by the General Secretary of Research of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Eva Ortega-Paíno, who highlighted the scientist's work. "Her brilliant international career and her pioneering contributions to the understanding of our immune system have transformed the understanding of autoimmune diseases and are opening new possibilities for their diagnosis and treatment," she indicated.
On the other hand, the president of the Margarita Salas Foundation, Lucía Viñuela, emphasized that the awards symbolize "the best of science: excellence, cooperation, and the conviction that knowledge only reaches its true value when shared."
In the same vein, the General Director of the Ramón Areces Foundation, Raimundo Pérez-Hernández, insisted that collaboration between institutions and research teams "are necessary conditions to position and maintain Spanish science at the international forefront."
Science and Diplomacy Days in Stockholm
The delivery of the award has put the finishing touch to a two-day program on the occasion of the VI Edition of the ACES Margarita Salas Award. On the afternoon prior to the official event, the Spanish delegation and representatives of the Swedish scientific system participated in the donation event of the collection about Santiago Ramón y Cajal to the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, owned by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), formalized by its Vice President of Organization and Institutional Relations, Carlos Closa.
The agenda in Stockholm will conclude on Saturday, September 19, with a working meeting between the Association of Spanish Scientists in Sweden (ACES) and the Secretary General of Research, Eva Ortega Paíno.
With this award, García de Vinuesa joins the list of awardees in the five previous editions, which includes professors Mercedes Maroto-Valer (2021, Category of Physics, Mathematics, and Engineering) and Ana Fernández-Sesma (2023, Category of Biomedical Sciences), Beatriz Roldán Cuenya (2024, Category of Physics, Mathematics, and Engineering), as well as professors Francisco Mojica (2022, Category of Chemical and Environmental Sciences) and Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano (2025, Category of Chemical and Environmental Sciences).