Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas 2025 – Investiture of Luis Puelles López as Doctor Honoris Causa
Academic Events, The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
1 October 2025
This morning, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) awarded the neuroembryologist and anatomist Luis Puelles an honorary doctorate, during the feast day of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The sponsor of the new Doctor Honoris Causa was Salvador Martínez, Professor of the Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology at the UMH. During the ceremony, 87 new doctors were also conferred, and 26 Extraordinary Doctoral Awards were presented.
The ceremony was presided over by the Rector of the UMH, Juan José Ruiz; the President of the UMH Board of Trustees, Joaquín Pérez Vázquez; the Vice Rector for Research and Knowledge Transfer, Ángel Carbonell Barrachina; the Vice Rector for University Studies, Susana Fernández de Ávila; and the Secretary General, Mercedes Sánchez Castillo.
Luis Puelles also inaugurated a tree bearing his name in the Garden of the Honoris on the UMH Elche campus. Specifically, the new Doctor Honoris Causa chose a Broussonetia papyrifera, known as the paper mulberry or Turkish mulberry. The Garden of the Honoris is located near the Rectorate and Social Council building and its objective is to preserve and offer recognition to the different Honoris Causa awarded by the UMH. This initiative began several years ago, and in it, each of the Honoris Causa awarded chooses a tree that is planted next to their information posters with the name of the Honoris, the common name and specific name of the tree, as well as a QR code with more specific information about the tree planted. The Garden of the Honoris features various types of trees, including palm trees, olive trees, pomegranates, carob trees, pines, elms, poplars, bay trees, holm oaks, arbutus trees, and other lesser-known species, such as the Judas tree, the coral tree, cedars, ginkgo trees, cinnamon trees, and catalpa trees. It also features a fig tree dedicated to Miguel Hernández.
Puelles currently works on mammalian models of the amygdala, prethalamus, and prethalamus; descriptive and experimental neurodevelopmental research in chicks and mice (fate mapping, patterns, migrations); and comparative developmental studies of genoarchitectural models in adults, ranging from amphioxus and lampreys to anamniotes, tetrapods, and humans. He is also notable for his contribution to the design and technical details of the Allen Developing Mouse Brain Atlas (2008–2011), as well as his personal production of the reference atlases and terminology ontology.
He has been a professor of Neuroanatomy at the University of Murcia for more than three decades, and principal investigator of the “Brain Regionalization and Developmental Genes” group at the Murcian Institute of Biosanitary Research (IMIB). Luis Puelles studied Medicine in Granada (1965-1971) and obtained his doctorate in Seville (1973). After this, he taught neuroanatomy and conducted research in neuroembryology and comparative neuroanatomy at the universities of Granada, Seville, Badajoz, Cádiz, and Murcia. He has also undertaken numerous international collaborations, resulting in a total of 17 stays at research centers and universities.
Puelles has been the principal investigator of more than 40 national and international projects and has served as a member of the editorial board of more than a dozen prestigious journals in the field of neuroscience. He has also been a member of various national and international scientific societies. Of particular note are his appointment as president of the Spanish Society of Neuroscience (1997-1999) and as director of the University of Murcia-University Hospitals of Murcia node of the CIEN Network (Center for Research in Pulmonary Diseases) of the FIS (2003).
Beginning in 1992, he contributed to the staged development of the prosomeric model of development for the vertebrate brain, as well as to the generation of elaborate and detailed topological genoarchitectural models of the pallium, subpallium, hypothalamus, diencephalon (avian and amphibian pretectum), midbrain, brainstem, and neural plate.
Invitation to the solemn event on the occasion of the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas 2025
Reception of authorities: 20 minutes before the start of the event
Reservations for academic attire and participation in the academic procession before 1/21
FORM FOR CONFIRMATIONS AND RESERVATIONS OF ATTIRE
The event will be broadcast live on
youtube.umh.es / radio.umh.es
PROGRAM
11:55 a.m.
Entrance of the procession and formation of the presidential table.
Canticorum Jubilo, by G.F. Haendel (Pneuma Vocal Ensemble UMH).
12:00 p.m.
Beginning of the Academic Ceremony:
Veni Creator Spiritus (Pneuma Vocal Ensemble UMH).
Solemn investiture of Mr. Luis Puelles López as an honorary doctorate.
Musical performance by the Pneuma Vocal Ensemble UMH.
Presentation of extraordinary doctoral awards.
Musical performance by the Pneuma Vocal Ensemble UMH.
Investiture of new doctors.
Speeches.
University Anthem: Gaudeamus Igitur (Pneuma Vocal Ensemble UMH).
1:30 p.m.
End of the ceremony.
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