It all started with Justo, the father of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, my great-grandson, and my great-grandfather Pedro.
When did Justus live?
From 1822 to 1903. He was born in the north of Huesca, the son of farmers. At 15 he started working as a barber, but he wanted to be a doctor. In Barcelona he studied surgery in the second year.
And what became of him?
He returned to Aragon and worked as a second-grade surgeon and barber. At the age of 40 he succeeded: he obtained the title of doctor already married and with children. He had no money and on a couple of occasions he had to walk to Barcelona to be examined. An example of constancy and willpower, but very authoritarian.
And how did his children take it?
He forced them to study medicine. Santiago was a bad student, but he drew very well, he wanted to be a painter. Justo moved as a professor at the University of Zaragoza to supervise Santiago’s studies, and there a magical event took place.
What happened?
Being with his father, a surgeon, Santiago saw and learned about the human body and became excited about anatomy, which later moved to the microscope. His genius emerged there, in the confluence of his artistic and scientific talent. He knew how to represent better than anyone else what he saw through the microscope.
And what happened to Pedro?
He failed high school, was afraid to tell his father and went to South America for seven years to support revolutionary groups. When he returned, he withdrew his medical degree.
Genius figure.
Pedro, my great-grandfather, was Santiago’s best friend and companion all his life, he did the same research as him, but in invertebrates, and they won joint prizes.
What does it mean to be the great-nephew of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Nobel laureate?
I was born on the same day, May 1. I remember from the age of 6 the pressure of always having to get 10, and if I didn’t get it I felt fatal. I’ve heard it said over and over that everything is given to me because of my surname, that I owed everything to him, so I put pressure on myself.
Always number one?
Yes, I was freed from that pressure when I went to Yale University, where my last name didn’t carry so much weight and I could be me.
Why did he want to be a doctor and study pathological anatomy, like his ancestor?
My grandfather and father were also doctors, and my uncles, I’m surrounded by them.
I?
I wanted to do research, and a professor I admired told me: “To be a researcher you need a good clinical foundation. Do medicine, get the best grades, go to pathology and then go to the USA”, and I listened to him.
And now, a big hospital. Happy?
Yes. In pathological anatomy we study all diseases that have a cellular or tissue basis, and this leads you to many questions, there is so much to research…
He has promoted the Ramón y Cajal chair for research grants.
Santiago never got public funding support. Until he won the Nobel, he paid for everything out of his own pocket by writing pathology books, which is why the aim of the chair is to support innovative and talented people.
I hope you find a lot of support.
There must be more of his disciples, and there are, the issue is that they don’t get lost. Cajal was very generous in his will, giving a third of his money to support brilliant research ideas. A generosity that barely exists.
What do you research?
I am very concerned about the great variability of types of tumors that exist.
explain it to me
Two years ago we published in Nature that cells collaborate with each other to create the tumor and metastasize. They communicate through vesicles, and our research continues to try to prevent them from talking to each other. We have already achieved this in mice.
Teacher and… anatomopathologist?
We diagnose all tumors and molecular alterations, and the oncologist treats with this information. If we make a mistake in diagnosing, the treatment will not be adequate.
What a responsibility.
The problem with diagnosis is that it is subjective. The percentage of discordance between pathologists is high both here and in the US.
How is it fixed?
With digital pathology. The future is networking, connecting with biologists, oncologists and pathologists from different hospitals and sharing information. We are already doing it.
You teach at the university. How do you see the future?
80% of the students are women, they have a high standard, and it will be very positive because they communicate better with patients, and this makes them get very good results.
