Health Marathon awards cancer research prizes

The Marathon Health Awards for Cancer Research are today awarded to Maria do Carmo Pereira from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto and Adriana Sánchez Danés from the Champalimaud Foundation for their work in the area of brain cancer.

The main objective of the annual Health Marathon Awards, which this year reward Cancer Research, is to foster knowledge and the discovery of innovative therapeutic solutions to fight this disease. The funding for these awards, totaling 40,000 euros, resulted mostly from donations raised during the Health Marathon television show, held in partnership with RTP in March 2019, as well as other support from civil society. In this 6th edition dedicated to Cancer, Janssen was one of the main partners of the Health Marathon and will associate its name to one of the Awards.

During Call, organized in partnership with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and aimed at researchers and doctors who proposed to develop a research project in an institution based in Portugal, 109 applications were obtained. The evaluation of the proposals was carried out by an international panel of 76 scientists in the area of cancer and by the scientific board of the Health Marathon, which selected the two researchers, one in the senior category and the other in the junior category, who will receive the awards of this edition.

Maratona da Saúde Award Senior Category
Maria do Carmo da Silva Pereira
Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto
"Nanotechnology in the treatment of brain cancer"

Janssen Health Marathon Award Junior Category
Adriana Sánchez Danés
Champalimaud Foundation
"Identifying tumor cells in pediatric cancer that are resistant to therapy"

The Maratona da Saúde Awards Ceremony for Cancer Research will take place today at 5pm, and will be broadcast live on Youtube and Facebook of Maratona da Saúde. This event will include the presentations of the projects of the two awarded scientists as well as the participation of Maria de Belém Roseira (President of the Board of Directors of the Health Marathon), Gonçalo Reis (President of the Board of Directors of RTP), Helena Pereira (President of the Foundation for Science and Technology) and Filipa Costa (Director General of Janssen Portugal).

According to Maria de Belém Roseira, president of Maratona da Saúde, "these awards are a demonstration that civil society is also involved in funding scientific research for health in Portugal, in a broadly participatory manner."

The annual editions of the Health Marathon consist of several awareness-raising initiatives organized throughout the country and culminate in a solidarity day broadcast live on RTP 1 and RTP International for several hours (television marathon). This project is only possible in Portugal thanks to the support of all the entities that are associated with the Health Marathon, among them Fundação Altice Portugal, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, Creative Minds, Cev Fiscalidade, Vieira de Almeida, Janssen, Sanofi, Roche, Pfizer and several patient organizations and medical societies. The annual Maratona da Saúde Solidarity Day also had the high patronage of the Presidency of the Republic during several editions.

Donations to Maratona da Saúde can be made throughout the year by value-added calls to 760 20 60 90 (0,60€+VAT) or IBAN: PT50 0035 0413 00044189730 73 BIC SWIFT: CGDIPTPL.

Learn more at www.maratonadasaude.pt.