Maria Blascoscientific director of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), has asked the Ombudsman for protection against the campaign of hoaxes and misinformation that she and the leading research center she leads are suffering.
In a letter sent this Monday and to which he has had access elDiario.esBlasco requests a meeting with Ángel Gabilondo in his capacity as High Commissioner of the Cortes Generales, to tell him what is happening at his center and insists that she is the scientific director, but not responsible for the accounts.
“Disinformation campaigns, which unfortunately are increasingly frequent in the field of politics, should never affect science,” writes Blasco. “However, these days we are seeing how the hoaxes are reaching Spanish science and the CNIO as a whole.”
Light versus noise
The director of the CNIO defends in the letter that cancer research should be outside the partisan struggle. “I turn to you precisely because we need the independence and serenity of the Ombudsman to help the CNIO, shedding light in the face of the thunderous noise. I would like to take advantage of this meeting to request that the Ombudsman carry out an audit of the management of the CNIO,” he insists.
I would like to take advantage of this meeting to request that the Ombudsman carry out an audit of the management of the CNIO
As he did in an interview with elDiario.es, Blasco reminds Gabilondo that the last SAB evaluation, in April 2023, praised the center’s scientific excellence. “The CNIO also has, for its part, a Managing Director, who is the one who has the power of signature and who has the contracting and personnel functions, a Manager who is not under my command,” he highlights. “In the Ombudsman’s audit, of course, my work and that of the Manager must be reviewed, as well as any issue that requires your high magistracy.”
Storm of criticism
Since early December, Blasco has been the subject of a storm of criticism and accusations about his management. Some group leaders at the center asked the institution’s Board of Trustees to resign due to the situation of structural deficit, the lack of technical equipment, complaints from workers about their low salary and an accusation of workplace harassment by a worker. Faced with this situation, the Board of Trustees of the institution gave Blasco and the center manager a month to present new exhaustive reports and paralyzed the 2025 accounts along with the program activity. CNIO Arton which an independent audit will be carried out.
During this time, some media have denounced the way in which the funds destined for research and the CNIO Arte program have been handled, as well as an alleged case of workplace harassment, which the official report denies, along with accusations of “abuse of authority”, for which the board did not find sufficient evidence, as this newspaper has been able to verify.
Blasco has been the victim of some easy-to-verify false information, such as the claim that his sister had just been named ‘number three’ of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, pointing to a person who has no relationship with her. director of the CNIO, although they share surnames.
#Maria #Blasco #requests #protection #Ombudsman #requests #audit #management #CNIO
