Dr. José Bravo-Ferrer: “COMBACTE is Much More Than a Scientific Research Network”

Dr. José Bravo-Ferrer is one of the Investigators in COMBACTE-CARE’s EURECA Study at Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena in Seville, Spain. To Dr. Bravo-Ferrer COMBACTE is more than a research network; it is commitment, teamwork and global responsibility.

“My love for medicine was the reason I chose Internal Medicine as a specialty. I was drawn by the simple essentials of medicine that IM involves. In the last years of my residency I discovered two new passions in this field: Infectious Diseases and Research. I spent three great years in Galicia (North of Spain) for this, acquiring knowledge and experience in the Infectious Diseases Unit, with Dr. Llinares-Mondejar and his entire team, whom I would like to thank.

Later Dr. Jesús Rodriguez-Baño offered me the opportunity to join his excellent team and collaborate in COMBACTE’s EURECA Study Coordination Team. I said yes before he could finish his sentence. To me this was a dream come true! There were no other people or sites where I could better spend my time.  I am very grateful to Jesús for putting his trust in me. It is a real pleasure working with the entire Seville team.

More than 50 sites in 10 countries, more than 200 investigators involved, around 2000 patients to be included. The EURECA study has reached astonishing numbers. And if you take a look at the global numbers of COMBACTE they are very impressive!

EURECA is a really exciting and easy project, thanks to the excellent collaboration between partners, managers, coordinators and investigators. Working closely together with them on a daily basis is a pleasure. With this mix of enthusiasm, effort and work, the results cannot be other than fantastic.

EURECA is much more than a research study (and it will surely be the most important in its field), inside much more than a scientific research network (COMBACTE is a surprising stratospheric network). We are inside a complex, and in some ways simple, engine that is developing a sense of global responsibility and commitment around not only Europe but also the entire world. No doubt COMBACTE is doing more than science.

I am convinced that there will be an old and new era after COMBACTE. We have to be proud to be part of it; so we have to take advantage and reinforce this global movement with our work!”