1984
The Tropical Medicine Unit is created at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona
Our history
1990
The Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) founds the Respiratory and Environmental Research Unit (URRA)
1996
Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona establish the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) in Mozambique
2005
Nuestra Historia 2005
The Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) is founded
2006
The Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB) is born
2010
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)
2013
The strategic alliance process between CREAL, CRESIB and ISGlobal begins
2016
The integration of CRESIB and CREAL into ISGlobal is completed
The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) was officially founded in 2010, driven by the “la Caixa” Foundation together with academic and government institutions seeking to provide Barcelona with a leading research and translation centre able to respond to the global health challenges of the 21st century. Our roots, however, go back much further. ISGlobal draws on more than 30 years of experience in the field of health and consolidates a research-based centre of excellence with its origins in the hospital and academic spheres.
In 1970, the University of Barcelona established the first postgraduate programme in Tropical Medicine and International Health in Spain and, a few years later, in 1984, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona created the first Tropical Medicine Unit in a tertiary hospital in Spain, laying the foundations of what would become a long tradition in this speciality in our country. In 2006, as part of the programme to create CERCA centres (research centres specialising in different fields) of the Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB) was created, following the lines of work in tropical medicine and international health previously opened up by Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona. CRESIB reinforced clinical care in tropical diseases with the knowledge generated by international health research.
Photo: The members of the tropical medicine section at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona in the mid-1990s. From left to right: Laura Schiaffi, Manuel Corachan, Encarna Caralt, Teresa Mejias and Joaquim Gascon.
Photo: Joan Rodés (right), founder of the Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica, drove research at the hospital. Pictured with Pedro Alonso, the first member of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit at Hospital Clínic and founder of CRESIB in 2006.
Photo: International health research at Hospital Clínic grew exponentially in the 1990s with the arrival of Pedro Alonso and Clara Menéndez. Pictured in Mozambique with statistician John Aponte (left), who worked with them for almost 20 years.
Photo: In June 2006, CRESIB held its first scientific retreat to jointly reflect on and discuss the research lines of the newly created institution.
Photo: Following the consolidation of CRESIB, the Health Minister of the Government of Catalonia, Marina Geli, visited CISM in 2007. The support of the Government of Catalonia has been essential in driving international health research in Spain and Mozambique. Pictured with Pedro Alonso.
Photo: Infanta Cristina, director of the International Area of the “la Caixa” Foundation, and Isidre Fainé, president of “la Caixa”, visited CISM in 2008. The idea of creating ISGlobal began to take shape during that trip.
In parallel, in 2005 the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) was created, a joint initiative of the Government of Catalonia, the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and Pompeu Fabra University. CREAL’s aim is to study the adverse effects of pollution on health and it is the heir to a track record in environmental epidemiological research initially fostered by IMIM’s Respiratory and Environmental Research Unit (URRA).
Photo: The Respiratory and Environmental Research Unit (URRA), located next to Hospital del Mar, laid the foundations of environmental epidemiological research in Barcelona. Pictured: the team in 2004.
Photo: From left to right: Manolis Kogevinas, Josep Maria Antó and Jordi Sunyer founded CREAL in 2005.
Photo: CREAL’s annual meeting in 2011, held at the Casa de Convalescència, in the modernist complex of Hospital de Sant Pau.
The drive to take scientific evidence a step beyond research, medical care and training led, in 2010, to the creation of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), which was born with the aim of taking over from CRESIB and bringing a broader, multidisciplinary perspective to its work, with knowledge translation as its driving principle. Promoted by the “la Caixa” Foundation, the Government of Spain, the Government of Catalonia and the Ramón Areces Foundation, ISGlobal aims to improve global health and promote health equity through excellence in research and the translation and application of knowledge.
Photo: From left to right: Marina Geli, Pedro Alonso, Javier Solana, Isidre Fainé, Dídac Ramírez, José Montilla and Infanta Cristina on the day ISGlobal was established in 2010.
Photo: ISGlobal held its first team-building day in May 2011 in Sitges (Barcelona).
In 2013, with the support of the Government of Catalonia through the SUMA Programme for the Integration of CERCA Centres, a strategic alliance process between CRESIB, CREAL and ISGlobal began, with the aim of consolidating a stronger and more internationally competitive global health research and translation centre. In May 2014, the integration into ISGlobal of what had until then been its research centre, CRESIB, was formalised. Two years later, in June 2016, the integration of ISGlobal and CREAL completed a process of more than three years of joint work, with a Board of Trustees including the “la Caixa” Banking Foundation, Hospital Clínic, Parc de Salut Mar, the University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra University, the Government of Catalonia, the Government of Spain, Barcelona City Council and the Fundación Ramón Areces.
Photo: Signing of the SUMA agreement in February 2013 between ISGlobal, CRESIB, CREAL and the CERCA system (Government of Catalonia). Pictured, from left to right: Antoni Plasència (director of CRESIB), Josep Maria Antó (director of CREAL), Lluís Rovira (director of CERCA) and Pedro Alonso (director of ISGlobal).
Photo: In October 2014, the Board of Trustees, meeting at the “la Caixa” offices, approved the change of leadership at ISGlobal. Antoni Plasència replaced Pedro Alonso as director general.
Photo: The first strategic meeting between the members of the Executive Committee of ISGlobal, CRESIB and CREAL took place on 18 October 2013 at CosmoCaixa Barcelona.
Photo: Team-building day following the integration of the three centres in 2016.
ISGlobal, a centre in the CERCA network, is thus one of the pioneering centres in combining research on communicable diseases with research on chronic diseases and their environmental and climate-related causes, placing it among the international benchmark centres in global health. In 2019, ISGlobal was named a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence for the first time by the Spanish State Research Agency, part of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. In 2024, ISGlobal renewed this accreditation, reinforcing its role as an international benchmark centre.
Photo: In February 2017, following the integration of the three centres, ISGlobal’s new era was presented at CaixaForum Macaya.
Photo: Meeting of ISGlobal’s External Advisory Board, chaired by Marcel Tanner and David Savitz, in November 2017.
Photo: The distinction accrediting ISGlobal as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, received in October 2019.
