The regional government has awarded Yolanda Prezado the María Josefa Wonenburger Prize in recognition of her work as a physicist specialising in radiotherapy

• The plenary session of the Unidade da Muller e da Ciência unanimously and by consensus selected this researcher, who specialises in the field of proton therapy, as the 2026 award winner

The plenary session of the Women and Science Unit of the Regional Government of Galicia has decided to award the 2026 María Josefa Wonenburger Planells Prize to Dr Yolanda Prezado, who holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Santiago de Compostela. This award, which was announced to her this morning by the Regional Minister for Social Policy and Equality, Fabiola García, aims to recognise her research work in the field of radiotherapy, and the decision was taken by consensus and unanimously.

Yolanda Prezado (Verín, 1977) holds a degree in Physics from the University of Santiago de Compostela and is a researcher at the Centre for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CiMUS). Previously, she was a member of the Institut Curie in Paris, where she led the translational radiobiology group. In 2019 and 2020, she chaired the Scientific Committee of the European Federation of Medical Physicists and the European Congress of Medical Physics. Since her return to Galicia, she has been establishing a centre of excellence in advanced radiotherapy at CiMUS, with a long-term clinical and technological outlook.

The Muller and Science Unit highlighted Yolanda Prezado’s role in research into radiotherapy and, specifically, her work on proton therapy, a field in which she is regarded as a leading European figure. More broadly, her work focuses on promoting radiobiological treatments for cancer, using less invasive therapies. Indeed, her achievements earned her the French Academy of Sciences award in 2021.

In 2024, after more than a decade in France, Dr Prezado returned to Galicia to join CiMUS-USC as a distinguished researcher under GAIN’s Oportunius programme, marking the operational launch of the main instrument designed by the regional government to attract world-class research talent. Her return aims to boost research into proton therapy, a technology in which Galicia will become a national leader with the opening in 2026 of the first centre in the national public network.

The plenary session of the Muller and Science Unit emphasised that this year was one of the most challenging in terms of selecting a winner, as there was a wide range of highly talented candidates, making the decision a difficult one. It is worth noting that the María Josefa Wonenburger Planells Award has been presented annually since 2007 and is named after the Galician mathematician, a pioneer and international figure in the field of science who was, moreover, a researcher ahead of her time.