Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) is a multidisciplinary center that was created in 1994 to manage the research, teaching and innovation carried out in the Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron (HUVH), the leading hospital complex in Catalonia and one of the largest in Spain (with more than 1300 beds and 7000 employees). HUVH is a third level public hospital that belongs to the Catalan Institute of Health (Institut Català de la Salut, ICS), which is the largest public health service company in Spain and is affiliated to the Department of Health of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya). HUVH is currently the reference hospital for more than 7 million people in Catalonia, offering deep healthcare services from birth to old age. HUVH is the hospital with the highest European Reference Networks (ERN) representation in Spain, being a member of 10 ERNs. The clinical research of this action will be developed in HUVH and managed by VHIR, which will lead the coordination of the project and also will carry out basic research activities. VHIR covers different steps of the research development, from basic to clinical trials and focuses especially on the development of improved diagnostics, therapies and prevention tools for the prevention of current health issues.

VHIR’s competitive research has a strong international component, with more than 67 ongoing international projects (including FP7, H2020-SC1, H2020-NMBP, FET-OPEN, Erasmus+, MSCA-ITN, MSCA-RISE, IMI2, DG SANTE, NIH, ERA-NET and COST actions). VHIR also has experience coordinating European projects (three FP7: BERENICE, EUROCONDOR, PROTBIOFLUID, and two of the Executive Agency for Health and Consumers (EAHC): EUROMAC and MyHealth). It should be emphasized that the EUROCONDOR project was successfully coordinated by Dr. Rafa Simó, principal investigator of VHIR in this action. In 2018, VHIR generated 1042 publications in 2018, with a Total Impact Factor of 6031.76. VHIR provides specific cutting-edge solutions for every need during the process of biomedical research, including: Lab Animal Service, High Technology Unit, Statistics and Bioinformatics Unit, Clinical Trials Pharmacy, Clinical Research Support Unit, Biobank, and the Academic Research Organization. In addition, VHIR is member of EATRIS and ECRIN, two platforms created to provide easy access to their European infrastructures. VHIR, together with the HUVH, the Vall d’Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO), and the Center for Multiple Sclerosis of Catalonia (CEMCat) created the Barcelona Campus Vall d’Hebron Hospital in 2016, a campus that has become one of the strongest hospital campuses in Europe.

VHIR will participate in WP1 (WP leader), WP2, WP3 (WP co-leader), WP5 (WP co-leader), WP6 (WP co-leader), WP7, WP8, and WP9.