European Awards in Medicine

A powerful boost to our commitment to health

On Tuesday 30 November, the 2nd European Awards in Medicine gala was held at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. These awards, granted by the Professional and Business Excellence Institute, recognise the career, effort, commitment, and innovation of different professionals specialising in different areas of healthcare and promote excellence and knowledge through teaching, research, and proactive networking.

Our Head of the Preventive Medicine and Healthy Ageing Unit of SHA Wellness Clinic, doctor Vicente Mera, received the award recognising him as the best European doctor in the field of Anti-Aging Medicine. “I am particularly excited about this award for two reasons. Firstly, because it is a great professional recognition. And second, because it rewards not only clinical work, but also informative work. For this reason, I am very grateful, and I receive it as a stimulus to continue working and improving”.

In 2018, a multidisciplinary Healthy Ageing programme was developed at SHA under the supervision of Dr. Mera, focused on slowing down and minimising the effects of ageing to enjoy a fuller and longer life and be the best version of oneself at any age. For this, a fully customisable methodology was used based on healthy nutrition, moderate and supervised physical exercise, stress management, optimisation of rest and sleep, hormonal balance, depurative and metabolic capacity, analysis of the non-specific and adaptive immune system and the study of genetic predispositions. Preventive medicine and the coordinated fusion of new areas of knowledge, such as bioidentical hormone therapy, genomic and epigenetic counselling, telomeric and immunosenescence assessment or the application of stem cells and enriched plasma, significantly enhance the positive impact that all of them would have individually. This comprehensive approach helps to restore vitality, improve physical appearance, and optimise overall wellbeing.

As Dr. Mera states, “healthy ageing does not only mean the absence of disease, but enjoying an optimal state of physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing at any age. We achieve this by systematically assessing and planning the ageing process which, in the long run, provides an improvement in both quality of life and life expectancy, sometimes with minimal effort. Moreover, the paradigm of ageing has changed. The problem is that we tend to drive the car of ageing by looking in the rear-view mirrors rather than through the windscreen, which prevents us from seeing what lies ahead. By taking the present as our vital reference point, we think that the best is behind us. This misguided mentality makes us feel old and worn out at 50, when in fact we still have a lot to do. I always give the example of David Attenborough, the British scientist, educator, and environmentalist who, at the age of 95, is more active than ever.

In recent years, there have been major advances in various medical fields that have led to an increase in life expectancy. Among these, Dr. Mera highlights “genetic research with new biomarkers, such as telomere length, bioidentical hormone treatments, detox, vitamin supplements and the influence of emotions and the microbiome on the ageing process”.