Research Prize

Enrique de-Madaria wins UEG Research Prize 2024

Enrique de-Madaria is a Gastroenterologist and Coordinator of the Biliary-Pancreatic Unit at Dr. Balmis Hospital in Alicante, Spain. He is also Scientific Deputy Director of ISABIAL in Alicante, Spain, and Associate Professor of Gastroenterology at the Miguel Hernandez University in Elche, Spain.

Enrique de-Madaria specializes in the clinical management of pancreatic and biliary diseases. His group promotes multicenter collaborative studies at the national and international levels, focusing mainly on acute and chronic pancreatitis. He has dedicated more than 10 years to studying fluid resuscitation in acute pancreatitis, with studies that have changed clinical practice. The WATERLAND study, which applied for the UEG Research Prize, is the randomized clinical trial in acute pancreatitis with the largest number of participating countries conducted to date (13 countries on 4 continents).

In 2017, Enrique de-Madaria won the UEG Rising Star Award. He is Co-director of the “Management of Pancreatic Disorders for the Practicing Clinician” Harvard Medical School course and founder of the Race of the Cities Against Pancreatic Cancer, an international sporting event that raises funds for research in pancreatic cancer (more than € 1 million raised for open grants).

Enrique de-Madaria will receive his award in the UEG Week Opening Plenary on Sunday, October 13.

Past awardees

Past awardees

2023: Michael Bretthauer, Oslo University Hospital
Research Project: EAGLE: "The European Alliance for Gastrointestinal Lesions in Early Stages"
Watch the recording

2022: Neil Henderson, University of Edinburgh
Research Project: "Using integrated single cell genomics and spatial transcriptomics approaches to identify the key therapeutic targets driving the progression of human NASH”
Watch the talk of Neil Henderson at UEG Week 2022.

2021: Dirk Haller, TU Munich, Germany
Research Project: “Repurposing mitochondria-protective targets for adjuvant IBD therapy”

2020: Stefan Schreiber, Kiel University, Germany
Research Project: “Therapeutic mechanisms of controlled-ileocolonic-release nicotinamide (CICR-NAM) in IBD”
Watch presentation given at UEG Week Virtual 2020

2019: Silvio Danese, Humanitas Research Hospital in Milan
Research Project: "The gut virome as a trigger for IBD: from metagenomics to pathogenesis”

2018: Cisca Wijmenga, University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG), The Netherlands
Research Project: "A celiac mucosal barrier-on-chip model to investigate its role in initiation of celiac disease”
Watch the interview with Cisca Wijmenga.
Read more about Cisca Wijmenga and women in UEG in the UEG Journal.

2017: Jesper Lagergren, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden
Research Project: “The aetiology, prevention and treatment of oesophageal cancer”
Watch the interview with Jesper Lagergren.

2016: Ernst J. Kuipers, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Research Project: “Hidden in plain sight: the opportunities for targeted surveillance and intervention for early gastric neoplasia”

2015: Jan Tack,University of Leuven, Belgium
Research Project: “Role of nutrients and tastants in determining the gastric accommodation (GA) reflex and the control of meal volume tolerance in health and disease"

2014: Rebecca Fitzgerald, Medical Research Council, Cancer Cell Unit, and Honorary Consultant in Gastroenterology at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge (UK), NIHR Research Professor
Research Project: "Combination of quantifiable genomic assays with a patient friendly non-endoscopic cell retrieval device called Cytosponge™ for management of patients with Barrett’s oesophagus"

2013: Ian Tomlinson, Welcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, United Kingdom
Research Project: "The roles of bone morphogenetic protein pathway genes in the normal and neoplastic intestines"

2012: Ludvig M. Sollid, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway
Research Project: “Antibody Response in Coeliac Disease”

2011: Pierre-Alain Clavien, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
Research Project: “Liver regeneration – extending the potential of the liver after major surgery”

2010: Hans Clevers, Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Research Project: “Develop techniques for ex vivo expansion and transplantation of stem cells from the human intestinal tract"

2009: Jean Frédéric Colombel, Hopital Claude Huriez, Lille,France
Research Project:"ORIGIN: Observing Relatives, Immunity, Genetics and the mIcrobiome before the onset of Crohn’s disease"

2008: Markus Neurath, University of Mainz, Germany
Research Project:"Molecular imaging of the intestinal immune system in IBD"

UEG Research Prize

UEG awards € 50,000 for excellence in basic science, translational or clinical research.

With this prize we support a future scientific research project from early stage to successful conclusion. The prize addresses well-established researchers at the height of their active career, whose science has had or will have a crucial impact on digestive health.

Application is closed.

Target group

Active, well-established senior researchers at the height of their active career, whose science has had or will have a crucial impact on digestive health.
Applicants should be leading a substantial research group and their work should be conducted predominantly in Europe.
The work should have been supported by substantial peer reviewed grants through internationally recognised research councils, research charities or industrial partners.
Applicants must have been mentioned at least once as (co-)author of an abstract submitted to UEG Week - or have been awarded as Rising Stars - in the past 3 years (2021, 2022, and/or 2023).
Applicants must commit to deliver the agreed research within the stipulated time frame.
Applications from departments that received a Research Prize in the previous 5 years (2019-2023) will not be accepted.
The prize will be awarded to the same recipient only once.
We encourage candidates from all digestive health fields to apply.