Margarita Salas

Margarita Salas was born in 1938 in Canero, Spain. She graduated in Chemistry in 1960 and obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1963. She carried out postdoctoral work with Professor Severo Ochoa at New York University from 1964 to 1967. She was Professor of Molecular Genetics (1968-1992) at Madrid Complutense University, and since 1974 she has been a Professor of Research at the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CBMSO), that she directed in 1992-1993. Presently, she is Professor ad honorem of the Spanish National Research Council and member of the Governing Board of the State Researach Agency.

Her main research fields are DNA replication and control of gene expression using the bacterial virus ø29 as a model system. She has published over 400 articles in international journals, lectured over 480 Conferences both in Spain and abroad, and supervised 36 Ph.D. Theses.

In 1988 she became member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences and in 2003 member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Language. From 1995 until 2003 she was President of the Institute of Spain and from 1999 till 2004, President of the Social Council of Oviedo University. She is also a member of EMBO, Academia Europaea, European Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Microbiology, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and foreign member of the US National Academy of Sciences.

She is Doctor Honoris Causa for the Universities of Oviedo, Polytechnic of Madrid, Extremadura, Murcia, Cádiz, Rey Juan Carlos, Málaga, UNED, UIMP and Jaén. She has obtained many prizes and distinctions, including the Severo Ochoa Prize of Research, the Rey Jaime I Prize of Research, the L’Oréal-UNESCO Prize “Women in Science”, the National Prize of Research Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the Gold Medal of Madrid Community, the Honor Medal of Menéndez Pelayo International University and Madrid Complutense University, and the Nature Mentoring Award 2017 for a life time achievement in mentoring, among others.

She is member of the Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (Barcelona), President of Fundación Severo Ochoa since 1997 and member of the Governing Board of the State Research Agency since 2016.