Dr Anna Bigas, Head of the Stem Cells and Cancer Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, has joined the Board of Trustees of the Scientific Foundation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer as a scientific trustee. Her appointment took effect during a meeting of the Foundation’s Board held in Madrid on 17 September.

Dr Bigas joins a select group of scientists who advise the Foundation on the selection of projects for funding and help define its main research priorities.

“It is an honour to contribute to ensuring that cancer research is of the highest possible quality,” says Dr Bigas. “Joining the Board of Trustees gives me the opportunity to draw on my experience as a researcher to support high-quality cancer research and help ensure that advances reach patients sooner.”

Dr Bigas’s research focuses on the mechanisms that regulate both normal and leukaemic stem cells, and on how leukaemic stem cells develop resistance to chemotherapy. She is currently investigating how to produce healthy stem cells for bone marrow transplantation and working to understand the molecular mechanisms that lead to relapse in patients with leukaemia.