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30 April 2024El Periódico de Aragón has also selected the profile of Alberto Jiménez Schuhmacher, ARAID researcher and head of the Molecular Oncology Group at IIS Aragón, for its special talent supplement in our Community. A complete interview to get to know this research leader up close and what his day-to-day life is like.
Alberto Jimenez Schuhmacher (Zaragoza, 1980) is above all a scientist who does not miss any opportunity, be it in the Ágora program on Aragón Radio where he regularly collaborates, in his role as ambassador of the Almudévar braid or in any public event or television gatherings, to disseminate the advances of science and insistently demand greater economic commitment from the Administration to research. Just turned 44 years old, It is considered “a tremendously vocational case, I have known how to move, intuit where the investigation was going to go and take advantage of the opportunities, but also work a lot.” Aragonese Award of the year (2018) and Favorite Son of Zaragoza for his human values and contributions to Science, This great scientific popularizer is also the author of the book 'You so cancer and I so virgo' together with Begoña Oro to talk about cancer to young people and for which they received the Jaén Prize for youth literature. Recently he was curator of the exhibition Santiago Ramón y Cajal: 150 years at the University of Zaragoza and promotes many initiatives around his figure.
“I have had, I have, a lot of ambition, but I have also known how to be realistic and adapt to each moment. I have always tried to be the dumbest person in the place I go, to learn as much as possible.” He is an admirer and disciple of the Aragonese Carlos López Otín, of whom he states: “López Otín says that talent is the best distributed good in the world and in Aragón we have been very lucky because we have had a lot. We have highly referenced researchers like Carlos Martín with the tuberculosis vaccine, exceptional engineering groups, in many areas. But in recent years, thanks to IIS Aragon and ARAID and other institutions and companies are joining young researchers who are creating an ecosystem that is already attracting attention outside our community. There is talk of the Aragonese “miracle”. Now we must care for and nourish that ecosystem with funds and a clear calendar of calls so that we can return the support given to society,” he emphasizes. How to retain that talent or retain him in the way he likes best? “Means must be guaranteed to be able to work under the same conditions as our competitors.
As usual, he shares his scientific work with lots of bureaucratic procedures. “When you become a researcher, bureaucracy kills, it is suffocating and demotivating. All day long we are surrounded by absurd papers and problems. We researchers want to be able to work, we need space, people and resources.” Schuhmacher notes a “very big” generational change with today's young researchers. Its values are different and immediacy prevails. “It is not about science being lived precariously and as a priesthood, which is how science is lived in our country. Although the situation has improved and happily they are no longer scholarship recipients, it must be made more economically attractive and see what a future they can have,” he laments. “There is no need for a coworking with a table, a computer and a coffee maker. There is a need for infrastructure, waste management, and biosafety levels.
He advises young emerging talents to never give up. “I think something that helps me a lot is thinking that you already have it, don't stop trying. He tries to do something that has a lot of impact, he tries to give his best. Look for a reference, mine is Carlos López Otín. And most importantly, science must have a social purpose, If not, for me it is not science. On the other hand, I would tell them that grades only mean that you knew how to study. Science and life are a triathlon, not a marathon. For the marathon you have to run a lot and be the best at running, but in the triathlon just running is not enough. You have to run a lot, but it's not enough to run or be the best at running. You also have to swim and ride a bike. You need to work as a team, have an open mind, a lot of curiosity. We all have a talent, look for it. Find your vocation, if you align your vocation with your talent you will never work because you will live your passion”
Source: The newspaper of Aragon
