Joan Rodés, born in Barcelona in 1938, obtained a doctorate in Medicine in 1967 at the University of Barcelona. He is Director of the August Pi i Sunyer Institute of Biomedical Research; Chair of the Board of Directors of the Medical Technology and Research Evaluation Agency; Chair of the Advisory Board of the Ministry of Health and Consumption; Director General of the Hospital Clínic; and Chair of the Research Evaluation Commission of the Agency for the Quality of the University System in Catalonia (AQU).