The Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine (RANME) yesterday awarded the Medal of Honour to Esther Koplowitz, Spanish businesswoman, philanthropist and aristocrat. The President of the RANME, Professor Eduardo Díaz-Rubio, was in charge of personally awarding her this distinction during a scientific session held at its headquarters in Madrid.

The businesswoman has been awarded for her contribution to medicine and biomedical research, activities that she carries out mainly through the Esther Koplowitz Foundation, set up in 1995 with the aim of helping people with physical and mental disabilities, as well as the elderly without resources and other disadvantaged groups. Her organisation also aims to protect children and young people, the social reintegration of people without resources and the granting of scholarships and aid for education.

Professor Pedro Guillén García, a member of the RANME, underlined the importance and significance of the Koplowitz Foundation's charitable activities, as "they are a real stimulus for our society because they contribute to the cultural, health, innovative, research and social upliftment of the Spanish people". He also highlighted the Foundation's extraordinary commitment to supporting research in multiple disciplines, including the donation of surgical equipment such as the Da Vinci robot delivered in 2006 to the Hospital Clínico San Carlos.