Emilio José
Sanz Álvarez

MD (1981) and PhD (1983) in Medicine from the University of La Laguna (ULL), DEA (Advanced Studies Diploma) in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Philosophy) from the University "Rovira i Virgili" (URiV) de Tarragona, Specialist in Clinical Pharmacology (1988), and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the School of Medicine of ULL, where he has been a teacher since 1982. He served as Dean from 2008 until October 2015, when he stepped down and assumed the Director of the Department of Physical Medicine and Pharmacology position until February 2020 (when his term ended). Since April 2019, he has been the Head of the Clinical Pharmacology Service at the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (as a "Profesor Vinculado"). His main research areas include Pharmacovigilance and Drug Epidemiology, especially in the field of Psychopharmacology and Pediatrics, as well as medical anthropology (the cultural role of drugs in society) and Bioethics. From 1986 to 1988, he conducted a post-doctoral stay at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Since 1989, he has participated in and co-directed several European projects on social and cultural aspects of drug use, using qualitative methodologies, in four projects coordinated with ten other countries in the European Union. As a result of this work, he has published and edited several books on aspects of medical anthropology related to drugs. During the period 2015-17, he was elected President of DIPEX International (www.dipexinternational.org), a scientific association that brings together scientists from 14 countries in this field, and he is the President of DIPEX Spain (www.dipex.es). He is the author of more than 150 research papers and 50 books or book chapters. He has supervised 20 doctoral theses until June 2023. Additionally, he is a member of 12 Scientific Societies. He is the Managing Editor of the "European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology." He speaks and writes English (C1) and Swedish (B2) fluently, in addition to Spanish. He served as Secretary (1995-97) and Vice-Dean (2005-8) of the Faculty of Medicine at ULL and Secretary of the National Conference of Medicine Deans from 2010 to 2015. Since 1983, and up to the present day, he has been a member of the "Commission of Deontology, Medical Law, and Visa" of the Official College of Physicians of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, serving as its President from 1999 to 2008. He is the President of the CEIC (Clinical Research Ethics Committee with Medicines) and the "Assistance Ethics Committee" (CEA) of the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC) (Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and a member of the CEIC of the Hospital Dr Negrín / Province of Las Palmas). Additionally, he has been the Vice President of the Animal Research Ethics Committee of the University of La Laguna since its creation in November 1999 and holds the D1 Accreditation according to Royal Decree 1201/2005 for the supervision of animal research. He is a member of the Bioethics Advisory Committee of the Government of the Canary Islands. Since 2003, he has been the Director of the Interuniversity Master's Degree in Bioethics; it is an official Master's degree offered by the universities of La Laguna and Las Palmas, and its 14th edition is being developed during the 2023-24 academic year. In 2019, he received the "Lifetime Achievement in Clinical Pharmacology Education" award from the European Association of Clinical Pharmacology (EACPT) for his lifelong dedication to teaching and research. In 2021, he received the Hélice ANECA Award for "Academic Quality" in its first edition, and in 2023, the Social Council of ULL awarded him the "Teaching Excellence" prize.