Professor Peter Rothwell presents Senior Science Award
Paola Patrignani, a highly regarded Professor from Italy, is the winner of the 2018 International Aspirin Foundation Senior Science Award. Paola’s dedication to aspirin research has greatly increased our understanding of how aspirin works within the human body and this work has had a major impact on both cardiovascular and cancer disease protection and prevention. In her early work, Paola contributed to the science behind the use of low-dose aspirin in stopping platelets from blocking blood vessels thus helping to avoid heart attacks and strokes; this has helped to save millions of lives over the past 30 years. More recently, Professor Patrignani has explored how low-dose aspirin can help protect people from some gastrointestinal cancers and she has shown that by preventing the interaction of platelets with cancer cells low-dose aspirin can inhibit the spread around the body of metastases which are the major cause of death and illness from cancer.
Prof Carlo Patrono, Chair Scientific Advisory Board / Award winner – Prof Paola Patrignani / Member of Scientific Advisory Board Prof Peter Rothwell
The International Aspirin Foundation Senior Science Award recognizes and supports senior scientists who have led significant work into valuable biomedical research contributing to the scientific knowledge of aspirin. A key focus of Professor Paola Patrignani’s career has been to increase the scientific understanding behind the role of low-dose aspirin in cardiovascular and cancer disease prevention. Her work has helped to inform the ideal dose of aspirin to use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). She has increased understanding around drug interactions and low dose aspirin use, worked to identify individuals who may not be protected by aspirin, contributed to the understanding of aspirin’s anti-tumour effect in colorectal cancer (CRC) and how low-dose aspirin can have an antimetastatic action.
Professor Patrignani leads the Laboratory of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics. She has a very active academic record with 165 publications in international journals and 22 chapters in international textbooks and has won several national and international research grants as a principal or co principal investigator.
Professor Peter Rothwell, of The Foundation’s International Scientific Advisory Board, presented the award today at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and said: ‘This award recognises the major contributions that Professor Patrignani has made over more than 30 years to our understanding of the effects of aspirin on platelets and on other tissues, translating insights from her understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of aspirin into changes in routine clinical practice around the world.’
On receiving her award at the presentation ceremony, Paola commented ‘I am delighted and deeply honoured to receive this Award. This Award represents a collective effort of many researchers who have worked together with me over many years. Also, I wish to acknowledge the contribution of numerous international collaborators. I could not do what I do without the support of my family, mostly my mother, and my mentor Professor Carlo Patrono’
Senior Science Award Winner with Award Sponsors, Bayer AG PharmaceuticalsDr Hassan Khater, Bayer AG Pharmaceuticals / Award winner – Prof Paola Patrignani /Mr Thomas Volkmer, Bayer AG Pharmaceuticals
Pictures courtesy of Ben Carpenter
