Bonaventura Clotet: "I come from a very humble family, we didn't go on vacation at home"

For Doctor Bonaventura Clotet, it is indisputable which is the best night of the year: the night of the Gala People in Red, the great solidarity event to raise funds for biomedical research. It is in May and for him it is the best way to open the doors to summer, with a company difficult to surpass: Sílvia Abril, Toni Acosta, Dj Genna, Joan Dausà, Amaral, DJ Fede Sardà, Manel Vehí, Nandu Jubany, Martina Klein, Àlex Corretja and Eduardo Casanova are some of the personalities who have accompanied the doctor this year in this event that is so marked on his calendar. "It is a very important night for me, very magical and very special," says Clotet. 

Inevitably, he assures, it is also a night of tension due to all the work behind it. "We have been organizing it for sixteen years and it is very necessary. When research is done, you need some seed money, which in English we call seed money, which allows you to start projects that arise from ideas, discussions and shared work among the teams," he explains.

"Without these initial resources, many investigations could not begin or later qualify for larger official grants," according to Clotet. This year the gala has managed to raise 838,769 euros, money that will allow research to continue in the face of major global challenges such as new epidemics, antibiotic resistance or the impact of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases.

The doctor explains that the ingredients for a good summer night are, in reality, the same as at any time of the year: sharing it with loved ones and having unhurried conversations. "I like to be with people I appreciate, whom I love, often with whom I also share research," he says.

Conversations can start by talking about science and end up drifting towards politics or any other topic. "These are moments of relaxation, relaxed, without tension," he celebrates. A good meal and a glass of cava or wine cannot be missing on these nights either. "It helps to make the conversation more fluid, to let go of control a little and to have more fun and more jokes, which is always good," he adds.

When he remembers the summer nights of his childhood and adolescence, however, the contrast is great. Clotet explains that he came from “a very humble family, with few resources” and that they didn't usually go on vacation anywhere. “We stayed in Barcelona,” he says. That's why he cherishes the memory of the first summer he went away for a few days with his parents. “I was fourteen and we went to Sant Hilari Sacalm. I still remember the walk to the springs,” he recalls.