It all started with Don Justo, the father of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, my great-granduncle, and my great-grandfather Pedro.
When did Don Justo live?
From 1822 to 1903. He was born to the north of Huesca, the son of farmers. At the age of 15 he started working as a barber, but he wanted to be a doctor. In Barcelona he studied second class surgeon.
And what happened to him?
He returned to Aragon and was working as a second-class surgeon and barber. At the age of 40 he made it: he obtained his medical degree and was married with children. He had no money and on a couple of occasions he had to walk to Barcelona to take the exam. An example of perseverance and willpower, but very authoritarian.
And how did his authority sit with his children?
He forced them to study medicine. Santiago was a bad student, but he drew very well, he wanted to be a painter. Don Justo moved as a professor to the University of Zaragoza to ensure that Santiago studied, and something magical happened there.
What happened?
Being with his father, a surgeon, Santiago saw and got to know the human body and became enthusiastic about the anatomy, which he later transferred to the microscope. There his genius emerged, at the confluence of his artistic talent and his scientific talent. He knew how to represent better than anyone else what he saw through the microscope.
And what happened to Peter?
He failed his bachelor’s degree, was afraid to tell his father and went to South America for seven years to support revolutionary groups. When he returned, he graduated with a medical degree.
Genius and figure.
Pedro, my great-grandfather, was Santiago’s best friend and companion all his life. He did the same research as Santiago, but in invertebrates, and they won joint prizes.
What does it mean to be the great-grandnephew of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Nobel Prize winner?
I was born on the same day, May 1. I remember since I was 6 years old the pressure of always having to get 10, and if I didn’t get it I felt horrible. I have heard endlessly that they give me everything because of my last name, that I owed everything to him, so I put pressure on myself.
Always number one?
Yes, I got rid of that pressure when I went to Yale University, where my last name didn’t matter so much and it could be me.
Why did you want to be a doctor and study pathology, like your ancestor?
My grandfather and father were also doctors, and my uncles, I am surrounded.
AND?
I wanted to do research, and a professor I admired told me: “To be a researcher you need a good clinical background. Do medicine, get straight A’s, get into pathology and then go to the US”, and I listened to him.
And now, a great hospital. Glad?
Yes. In pathology we study all diseases that have a cellular or tissue basis, and that leads to many questions, there is so much to investigate…
He has promoted the Ramón y Cajal chair for research grants.
Santiago never got public funding support. Until he got the Nobel, he paid for it all out of his own pocket by writing pathology books, which is why the objective of the chair is to support groundbreaking and talented people.
I hope you find a lot of support.
There has to be more little boxes, and there are, the issue is that they are not lost due to financing problems. Cajal was very generous in his will, he donated a third of his money to support brilliant research ideas. A generosity that hardly exists.
What do you investigate?
I am very concerned about the great variability of types of tumors that exist.
Tell 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 stop them from talking to each other. In mice we have already achieved it.
Teacher and pathologist?
We make the diagnosis of all tumors and molecular alterations, and with this information the oncologist treats. If we are wrong to diagnose, the treatment will not be adequate.
What a responsibility.
The problem with the diagnosis is that it is subjective. The percentage of disagreement 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 on it.
You teach at the university, how do you see the future?
80% of the students are women, they have a high level, and it will be very positive because they tend to treat the human part better, they communicate better with patients, and that makes them obtain very good results.
