EuChemS congratulates Pilar Goya on her HonFRSC designation.

Pilar Goya, EuChemS Vice-President, was awarded the designation of Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020. The current Honorary Fellows, of whom there are over a hundred, have each been admitted in recognition of their unique achievements ranging from public engagement to distinction in research.

Professor Pilar Goya HonFRSC

Pilar Goya Laza was first woman President of EuChemS (European Chemical Society) from 2018 to 2020.

She received her PhD in Chemistry from the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, and did a postdoctoral stay in Konstanz, Germany, financed by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is Research Professor of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) at the Instituto de Química Médica of which she was the director for six years. Her research deals with different aspects of medicinal chemistry and drug design, mainly focused on the modulation of the endocannabinoid system targeting pain and cancer.

She has been involved in administrative positions being Head of International Affairs of the Spanish Research Council and the President of the Centro Nacional de Química Orgánica. She took active part in the European Science Foundation and in the HCM (Human Capital and Mobility) and TMR (Training and Mobility of Researchers) programmes of FP3 and FP4. She was also the chair of the Chemistry Committee of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowships. She has been Vice President of the Royal Society of Chemistry of Spain, RSEQ, and President of the Spanish Society of Medicinal Chemistry, SEQT.

She is very active in reaching out to the general public having published two popular books, on “What we know about Pain” and the other one in 2019, on “The Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements”.