10 years of support for applied research in healthcare

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Czech Health Research Agency (AZV ČR ), its Chair Ondřej Slabý awarded special prizes to nine scientists whose supported projects were selected as the most successful during the entire existence of the Agency. This was done at a gala conference held on 12 September 2024 in Prague.

"Congratulations to all the award-winning colleagues and their research teams. I look forward to contributing to further inspiring discoveries and innovations in the coming ten years together with other outstanding research teams," said Ondřej Slabý at the ceremony Chair AZV ČR .

So far, AZV ČR , which in April 2014 followed up its activities with the Ministry of Health's internal grant agency ČR, has supported more than 1,040 projects in the field of applied health research with a total value of more than CZK 11.6 billion. The results of many of these projects find their way into everyday clinical practice, helping to improve prevention, diagnosis or treatment of patients.

"Ten years of research and innovation in healthcare represents, among other things, ten years of learning and adapting to the new challenges that modern biomedicine brings. I am delighted that we have been able to introduce several - and it is already proving beneficial - changes in the past year. Among them, I would mention the implementation of an innovative evaluation process in the public competition 'VES 2024' or the organisational security of the agenda concerning the involvement of Czech scientists in the European Partnerships in Health, which may lead to an increase in the competitiveness of ČR in the international research area. This should also be helped by the use of exclusively foreign referees, which we are going to introduce for evaluation project proposals already in this year's public competition," added Ondřej Slabý.

"It is great to see the huge shift that biomedical research has undergone in the last decade. I am convinced that this positive trend will continue and that it will be contributed to by our departmental agency under the competent leadership of Professor Ondřej Slabý, whose main task is to support quality and innovative biomedical research and development," said Health Minister Vlastimil Válek.

The Chairman's Award AZV ČR was given to scientists whose grant projects were selected by the agency's expert panels based on excellence in applied health research. These are projects that make a significant contribution not only to advancing medical science knowledge and innovation, but also to improving the quality of health care.

The laureates include:

Doc. RNDr. Běla Bendlová, CSc.
for the project Thyroid tumors in children and adolescents and their molecular genetic basis

Prof. Pavel Osmančík, M.D., Ph.D.
for the project Catheterization closure of the left atrial appendage versus therapy with new oral anticoagulants in at-risk patients with atrial fibrillation (PRAGUE-17 study)

Prof. MUDr. Pavel Klener, Ph.D.
for the project New prognostic and predictive indicators in patients with mantle cell lymphoma at diagnosis and during treatment

Prof. MUDr. Karel Šonka, DrSc.
for the project REM sleep behaviour disorder - clinic, context and development

Prof. MUDr. Tomáš Kalina, Ph.D.
for the project Dysregulation of the immune system: lymphocyte properties in patients with immunodeficiency and autoimmune manifestations

RNDr. Pavel Krejčí, Ph.D.
for the project Identification of new treatment options for achondroplasia through the analysis of the interaction of FGFR3 and the adapter protein Frs2

Prof. MUDr. Jan Lebl, CSc.
for the project Study of etiopathogenesis and optimization of treatment in children with intrauterine growth restriction and postnatal persistent growth failure

Doc. MVDr. Aleš Hampl, CSc.
for the project Epithelial Tissue Engineering: Cells and Protocols for Regenerative Medicine

Doc. PhDr. Radka Bužgová, Ph.D.
for the project Neuropalliative and Rehabilitation Approach for Preserving Quality of Life in Patients in the Advanced Phase of Selected Neurological Diseases