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Honoris Causa » Nicholas A. Peppas » Laudatio
This speech could not begin any other way than by sincerely thanking our beloved institution, the University of La Laguna, for awarding Professor Nicholas Peppas an Honorary Doctorate. This well-deserved recognition was approved by the Governing Council and the University Senate of our university, proposed by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Technology and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of La Laguna, supported by the School of Engineering and Technology and the Faculty of Sciences of our university, and endorsed by the Department of Galenic Pharmacy and Food Technology of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), and the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology of the Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology of the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC). My most sincere thanks to all of them. Without a doubt, the incorporation of Professor Peppas to the University of La Laguna will contribute to raising the image of our university throughout the world, as he is a magnificent international ambassador of science.
I feel very honored to be Professor Peppas's sponsor and to perform the Laudatio for his investiture as Doctor Honoris Causa by our institution. Today is certainly a day I will remember for the rest of my life, both as a professor and researcher at the University of La Laguna and, above all, on a personal level, as his disciple for more than 15 years, during which time I have continuously received his advice, collaboration, and support. My relationship with Professor Peppas began back in 2009, during my doctorate. I was a visiting researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin for six months under his supervision.
This period of my doctorate marked a turning point in my way of thinking, working, and, ultimately, doing science. During those years, I was accustomed, like the rest of my colleagues, to following the guidelines of my thesis advisors "to the letter," with no opportunity to propose solutions to the problems that arose on a daily basis and no independence in deciding the direction of my research. However, Professor Peppas urged me to propose a new research project in the fascinating field of molecular recognition. And it went well. It resulted in the publication of two articles, the obtaining of an American patent, and the establishment of a scientific relationship that lasts to this day.
Prof. Peppas holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (1971) and a PhD in Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1973), under the supervision of Prof. Edward Merrill, where he also completed his postdoc. Over the past four decades, he has established the fundamentals and rational design of biomedical systems and developed models of drug and protein diffusion from controlled-release systems and into biological tissues. His inventions include cartilage, vocal cords, artificial organs, non-thrombogenic biomaterials, and delivery systems for insulin for diabetes, calcitonin for osteoporosis, and interferon-beta for multiple sclerosis, among others.
A pioneer in bionanomaterials, drug delivery and release, polymer physics, and bionanotechnology, Prof. Peppas pursues a fully multidisciplinary approach, combining modern molecular and cellular biology with engineering principles to design the next generation of therapeutic agent delivery systems for the treatment of disease, as well as fundamental medical systems and devices for the treatment of patients. His work is multinational, diverse, inclusive, and convergent, capable of solving emerging medical problems in many countries around the world. His contributions have resulted in more than twenty medical and pharmaceutical products with a multi-billion dollar market. An estimated 800 million patients have benefited from products emerging from his basic and translational research.
Proof of all this is his vast scientific output, with more than 2,000 published articles, resulting in an h-index of 217 and obtaining more than 226,000 citations, co-author or co-editor of 41 books, holder of 55 patents, speaker at congresses and conferences in 34 countries with more than 1,600 presentations, and winner of more than 200 international awards, including the National Academy of Engineering Founders Award, the National Academy of Medicine Adam Yarmolinsky Medal, the Pharmaceutical Global Leader Award or the Biomaterials Global Impact Awards.
It is worth noting that he is the only researcher to have received the highest honors from both the American Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Engineering, of which he has been elected a member, as well as from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Inventors, the Engineering Academies of China and Canada, the National Academy of France, the Royal National Academy of Pharmacy of Spain, the Academy of Athens, the National Academy of Engineering of India, the Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology, the Royal Society of Chemistry of England, the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Sciences, among others.
Prof. Peppas's contribution to the fields of biomaterials and nanomedicine has been fundamental, laying the foundations for the rational design of drug delivery systems in the 1970s, thus abandoning the purely empirical formulation practiced until then. In this regard, Dr. Peppas was the first to establish the theories and equations governing the release of drugs, peptides, and proteins from their dosage forms, such as the Korsmeyer-Peppas Equation, which simply describes controlled drug release, or the Peppas-Reinhardt, Brannon-Peppas, and Sahlin-Peppas theories, which are the theoretical framework for the analysis of drug transport through cross-linked polymeric biomaterials, ionic hydrogels, and swellable forms, respectively.
His group has laid the foundations for the transport and flow phenomena of numerous medical problems. Furthermore, Prof. Peppas has distinguished himself for his translational and applied impact. As early as the 1970s, he developed muco/bioadhesive systems capable of increasing the bioavailability of proteins and peptides in the blood. He was the first to synthesize polyvinyl alcohol-based hydrogels, which were successfully used for the replacement of articular cartilage and vocal cords. He pioneered the use of hydrogels for epidermal drug delivery and, together with Professors Conte and Colombo, developed Geomatrix® technology for controlled-rate oral drug release over 24 hours. In the late 1970s, he began working with contact and intraocular lenses, being one of the first to develop hard, oxygen-permeable contact lenses.
Beginning in the 1980s, he began working with pH- and temperature-sensitive smart polymers for drug release, being one of the first to use these systems for the controlled release of enzymes. In recent decades, since the 1990s, he has driven the development of systems sensitive to physiological and pathological stimuli, such as platforms sensitive to blood glucose levels or temperature-sensitive systems that release antipyretics. His research on oral delivery systems for peptides, such as insulin and calcitonin, or proteins, such as interferon alpha and beta, has facilitated advances in the treatment of diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, and multiple sclerosis, and has inspired such prominent figures in nanomedicine and pharmacy as Professor María José Alonso, Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Santiago de Compostela, whom I would like to sincerely thank for her presence.
Aside from his tremendous contribution to the advancement of science, it is worth highlighting his passion for helping, training, and mentoring young researchers throughout their careers. His scientific family, which includes more than 1,500 researchers and is affectionately known as "peppamers," includes prominent leaders in the field of biomedicine who will undoubtedly contribute to improving the lives of many people. He has taught more than 5,600 students, 125 of whom completed their doctoral theses with him, and collaborates with more than 1,000 scientists worldwide, placing European universities in a privileged position in his preference for collaboration.
It is worth noting that he has been a visiting professor at 14 universities in 11 countries, including the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Complutense University of Madrid, where he visited in 2001 with Professor Juan José Torrado, whom I thank for his presence here. His relationship with Spain has been very special, having been to our country more than 20 times, with the University of La Laguna being one of his most recent visits. This visit took place in May 2019. He gave four lectures at the Faculty of Pharmacy as part of the industrial symposium "Advanced Systems for a Better Future." He visited the facilities of the institution's General Research Support Service and was received by various authorities, including the Vice-Rector for Internationalization, the Vice-Rector for Research, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Director of the SEGAI (Spanish Institute of International Studies).
Thus, having considered and presented all these facts, worthy authorities and faculty members, I request with all due consideration and earnestly pray that the highest degree of Doctor Honoris Causa be awarded and conferred upon His Excellency Professor Doctor Nicholas A. Peppas by the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of La Laguna, which will be added to the 14 honorary doctorates he already holds throughout the world in recognition of one of the most relevant careers in chemical and biomedical engineering, pharmacy and medicine in history.
Edgar Pérez Herrero
