Prof. Dr. José Ramón Calvo Fernández

Prof. Dr. José Ramón Calvo Fernández has spent four decades at the intersection of medicine, education, and the convening of global intellectual excellence — building the kinds of platforms where Nobel laureates, heads of state, and the world's leading scientists agree to sit at the same table. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Research, Innovation and Academic Excellence at the University of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, and as Strategic Advisor to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center — one of Europe's principal centres for high-performance computing and applied research. His base of operations stretches from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to the Gulf, with teaching and lecturing posts across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Career Milestones at a Glance

• Director of the Center for Research, Innovation and Academic Excellence at the University of Fujairah, UAE
• Strategic Advisor to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center
• Creator and Director of the Campus of Excellence (2005–2009) — convened 50+ Nobel laureates, 6 Heads of State, and 2,500+ participants across five editions
• Selected by Al Gore as one of 23 global speakers for the Climate Reality Project (2011)
• Full Professor of Health Education at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria since 1991
• Promoter and Secretary General of the 2nd European and 1st Ibero-American Conference on Tobacco Use — 3,000+ participants from 120+ countries
• Academician and President of the Institute for International Cooperation, Royal European Academy of Doctors
• Author, co-author, or editor of 20 books; 60+ journal publications; supervised 16 doctoral theses and 110 postgraduate dissertations

Excellence convenes excellence.

Prof. Calvo did not begin his career as a convener of Nobel laureates. He began it as a physician. He took his degree in Medicine at the University of Córdoba with the highest grade — Outstanding — and went on to earn his PhD from the same university with the distinction Summa Cum Laude. The discipline of clinical diagnosis — observe carefully, weigh the evidence, then commit — became the foundation for everything that followed.

In 1991, at the age of thirty-two, he was appointed Full Professor of Health Education at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a position he holds to this day. From that base he built the academic credibility that would carry him to visiting and guest professorships across some twenty institutions on four continents — Auburn and California in the United States, the Complutense and Autónoma in Madrid, Notre Dame in Beirut, Mohammed VI in Marrakesh, the University of Sharjah, San Francisco University in Quito, the Catholic University of Petrópolis, Campinas in Brazil, and many more. In parallel, he served as a Visiting Research Scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta — the global benchmark institution for applied public health science.

His research footprint in Health Education and Public Health is substantial: 20 books authored or edited, more than 60 journal publications, 16 doctoral theses supervised, and 110 postgraduate dissertations guided. His specialisations span child protection, health education in childhood and adolescence, tobacco control, lifestyles, communication and leadership, and the organisation of large-scale scientific events. From 1999 to 2003 he sat on the working group of the International Union Against Cancer for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and went on to advise the governments of Mexico and Puerto Rico on their national tobacco control programmes.

The most distinctive chapter of his career, however, is the one that earned him the title of convener-in-chief of Iberoamerican scientific dialogue. As Director of the International Course on Advances in Medicine in 1993, he brought together 9 Nobel laureates and 80 top-level scientists from around the world — a feat of credibility and persistence that few academics attempt and fewer accomplish. He then promoted and led, as Secretary General, the 2nd European and 1st Ibero-American Conference on Tobacco Use, drawing more than 3,000 participants from over 120 countries. And between 2005 and 2009, as Creator and Director of the Campus of Excellence, he assembled across five editions more than 50 Nobel laureates, 6 sitting Heads of State, and over 2,500 attendees. In 2011, Al Gore selected him as one of just 23 global speakers for the Climate Reality Project.

The institutional roles followed naturally. He is Academician and President of the Institute for International Cooperation at the Royal European Academy of Doctors, Academician and Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Humanities of Lanzarote, and Academician of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Basque Country. He has served as Founder and Director of the Campus of Excellence, Executive Director of the Spanish office of the International Centre for Migration, Health and Development, Director General of the Excelencia Foundation and the Foro de Excelencia Association, and as a member of the Canary Islands Cancer Research Institute. His honours include the Dr. Matilla Award from the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain, the Grand Collar of Merit in International Education and Innovation from the Noble House of Dr. Otto von Feigenblatt, and the Islas del Atlántico Research Award from the Ibero-American Cooperation Institute, among others.

Today, from his current post at the University of Fujairah, he continues to do what he has done for forty years: identify the people whose minds the world most needs to hear from — and persuade them to be in the same room at the same time. The medical training never left him. He still listens before he speaks, examines before he prescribes, and treats credibility as the only currency worth accumulating. When excellence needs convening, the call goes to him. And the room comes.