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Nora Fernandez Fernandez
The Alcorcón campus has hosted today the act of appointment of Carlos Goicoechea as the new dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the URJC.
The inauguration took place in the presence of several members of the university community, professors, students and the rector of the University, Javier Ramos. Carmen Gallardo, former dean of the Faculty, was the first to speak and congratulate Goicoechea on his appointment. From her experience, she assures that "it has been a few years of intense work, decision-making and learning that have generated in me a feeling of belonging to this faculty that I will always carry with me."
In addition, Gallardo has reminded attendees that "my work as a teacher continues and I am sure that I will continue living unique moments with students, colleagues and friends."
Carlos Goicoechea, for his part, began by "thanking all the attendees, and giving the most emotional and sincere thanks to the university community that has decided to support our candidacy to lead this faculty for the next 4 years."
“This is one of the most important challenges that a university professor can experience; Be a dean to help lead your peers. If the role of a teacher should be to generate, transmit and disseminate knowledge, the role of a dean of health sciences should be to help these tasks to be carried out in the best conditions and thus achieve our greatest objective as teachers: to train great professionals, good researchers and, above all, people committed and dedicated to improving the lives of those around them. This is the work that we are going to focus on in the coming years”, pointed out Goicoechea.
In his speech, the new dean also took the opportunity to comment on the challenges that arise in the coming years: “consolidate our campuses with the start-up of new works and infrastructures; develop the future university law and adapt to the demands of a society that demands of us, as the motto of our university points out, a new way not only of designing but also of facing an exciting and fascinating future”.
In his speech, the rector of the URJC began by wishing Carlos Goicoechea "the best for this new stage and giving you my most sincere congratulations." Ramos has ensured "the suitability of Carlos' profile for the position he has promised, endorsed by his skills as a teacher, researcher and manager at this University".
Returning to the idea of the transforming power of education and science at critical moments in society, Ramos has insisted on "the role of the university as a responsible institution, which generates knowledge and transmits it, with the aim of changing and improving the lives of others." Along with this first idea of responsibility, "the new dean and I share another feeling, of pride, of belonging to this university."
Carlos Goicoechea has a PhD in Pharmacology from the UCM and joined the URJC team in 1997, with an associate professor contract. He later obtained a position as Full Professor of the University School and, after the relevant accreditations, he has been a University Professor since 2017.
As a teacher, Goicoechea has taught Pharmacology classes in all the degrees on the Alcorcón Campus (Nursing, Biomedical Engineering, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Medicine, Dentistry, Psychology and Occupational Therapy). In addition, he has launched a Doctorate Program, an Official Postgraduate Program and an Official Master's Degree, directing various postgraduate courses.
As a researcher, his line of work has focused, since his Doctoral Thesis, on the study of pain and nociception, through the development of animal models, the search for pharmacological targets and the study and development of new analgesic agents. On the other hand, Goicoechea is co-coordinator of Pharmakom, a high-performance research group of the URJC and head of the Associated Unit R+D+i Institute of Medical Chemistry (CSIC)-URJC.
As a manager, the new dean of the FCSS has collaborated in different tasks at the URJC, as department secretary, department director, member of the Governing Council, member of the Doctoral Commission, of the Research Commission, I have been cloistered, Elected member of the Faculty Board, member of the Commission for the design of the Strategic Plan of the URJC. He is also a member of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Alcorcón University Hospital Foundation and, currently, vice president of the Spanish Pain Society.
