The Institute for Neurosciences researcher Jorge Manzanares, new President of the Ibero-American Conference of Faculties of Pharmacy

The Professor at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Jorge Manzanares, has been appointed President of the Ibero-American Conference of Faculties of Pharmacy (COIFFA). In a ceremony held in San José, Costa Rica, it was also approved that the society’s 2027 annual Congress will be held at the Sant Joan d’Alacant UMH’s campus.

Source: UMH Communications Service

The UMH has been a member of COIFFA for 13 years, and Professor Manzanares has collaborated with the entity for a decade as a board member (vocal) for Spain. He has also served as Vice-President of this society, which aims to be an international benchmark for the training of pharmaceutical personnel. “As President, I hope to contribute to the organization of the minimum curricular requirements for the Degree in Pharmacy across all participating Ibero-American, Spanish, and Portuguese countries, and also to try to implement research and scientific development plans by harmonizing Master’s and Doctoral studies”, notes the UMH professor.

Furthermore, he hopes that the association can disseminate, through courses, subjects less frequently addressed in some of the participating countries and faculties, such as mental health and addictions. Professor Manzanares comments that, “being part of the Executive Committee of the EAFP (European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy) also makes this an appropriate time to bring countries and Faculties of Pharmacy closer together to exchange professors, students, and teaching structures with European countries.”

Following Professor Manzanares’s proposal, the annual Congress of the Ibero-American Conference of Faculties of Pharmacy will be held at the Sant Joan d’Alacant UMH’s campus. This event brings together pharmaceutical science professionals from Ibero-America, Spain, and Portugal.

Jorge Manzanares holds a degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacology from the Complutense University of Madrid. Following his doctorate, he was an associate researcher in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Michigan State University in the United States. In 2004, he became a Tenured Professor in the Area of Pharmacology at the UMH, and joined the Institute for Neurosciences, a joint centre of the UMH and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), where he directs the Translational Neuropsychopharmacology of Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases laboratory. His appointment as President of COIFFA is added to a long list of recognitions. The most recent was as a corresponding academician of the National Academy of Medicine of Mexico in July 2024.

Source: UMH Communications Service (comunicacion@umh.es)