On 13 February, the internationally renowned researcher in palliative care and nursing teaching, Cristina Monforte, participated as an honorary guest to give the opening lecture in the inaugural ceremony of the 2024 academic year of the Universidad del Istmo (Guatemala).

With the title “Caring, science and art: nursing, the key to improving society”, the director of the WeCare Chair and lecturer of the Nursing Department of UIC Barcelona, reminded the audience that nursing is a fundamental pillar in caring for society. Beyond being a profession, nursing is a discipline that fuses scientific knowledge with sensitivity and empathy, turning the profession into the art of caring.

Monforte is nationally and internationally renowned, not only in nursing research but also in research focused on the final stage of life, an area that she leads the way in from the WeCare Chair of the University. Currently the vice-rector of Academic Organisation and Teaching Staff of UIC Barcelona, Monforte has also been vice-rector of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at the University, director of the Department of Nursing on the Sant Cugat Campus and president and vice-president of the National Conference of Nursing Deans. 

In the field of research, she has focused her work on two principal areas: advanced illnesses and end-of-life-care, and nursing research in the area of teaching and applied clinical practice. She has been a principal investigator in six national projects and one European project, and has published more than 60 articles, 54 of them internationally. In addition, she is an evaluator for numerous first quartile journals and competitive projects for the Spanish Research Evaluation Agency (AEI) and other international agencies.

Recently, the research team led by Cristina Monforte has received funding from the European Community under the Horizon programme to carry out the ambitious RAPHAEL project: Integrating a Palliative Care Approach for Patients with Heart Failure, focusing on the role of palliative cures in optimising the quality of life of patients with heart failure.