THE WORLD

Updated Tuesday, February 27, 2024-10:12

This Sunday, Guillermo Pousada

, a researcher who received a national award in 2021 for work on HIV,

died in his native Cangas at the age of 40 .

According to 'La Voz de Galicia', Pousada has died due to

oral cancer

that was diagnosed in 2021.

He graduated in

Biology

from the University of Vigo, completed a doctorate in

Biomedicine

and completed a master's degree in clinical trials at the University of Seville.

Despite his great training and academic merits, Guillermo had great difficulties entering the world of work in a sector with fewer and fewer jobs available.

"The University of Vigo did not give me any alternative. The contracts are based on the research projects. And right now, with all the cuts, they have greatly reduced those projects. In the few that there are, they do not offer money to hire personnel. No There are funds to give me a contract," he commented in 2017 in an interview with 'La Voz de Galicia'.

Shortly after, he saw his doctoral thesis on the genetic and molecular bases of pulmonary arterial hypertension published in the prestigious scientific journal

Scientific Reports

and he found a job at the

Galicia Sur Health Research Institute

.

When he was at that institution he won the national award for best new HIV researcher.

"It represents a very important support for those of us who dedicate ourselves to science and research; it is a recognition that will benefit the entire team, especially in these times when all support for research is needed," he celebrated then.

But not long after he received the harsh diagnosis that he suffered from

squamous cell carcinoma

.

"Cancer is that terrible and feared disease, often too far away unless those closest to you have suffered from it. Until suddenly, you come across it head-on, without expecting it. At only 38 years old, cancer arrives and sits next to you. And exposes you to your greatest fears, forces you to face a version of yourself still unknown," he wrote after the diagnosis in 2022.

In the end, Guillermo Pousada was unable to overcome the illness and died.