Celebrating the Retirement of Prof. María Jesus Albar-Marín, founding CESPYD member

We are honored to celebrate our colleague and founding member of the CESPYD team Prof. María Jesús Albar-Marín, Professor in the Nursing Department at the University of Sevilla. For many of us, she has been an inspirational source in our training as researchers and educators in the field of nursing, social psychology, and public health. Over the last 40 years her contributions have increased the research and advocacy capacity of nursing staff in hospital settings from a social justice approach. Her research has aimed to ensure sensitive and responsive health care systems for vulnerable communities while promoting the well-being of nursing staff.

Prof. Albar-Marín’s trajectory began in 1977 as a Clinical Nurse in the Psychiatric Unit at the Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena (Sevilla) leading the implementation of the Psychiatric reform of the Andalusian Health System. She founded multidisciplinary teams that led the way for the health sector to play a role in support the integration of psychiatric patients in the general health care system by developing various training programs for nurses to be influential in implementing the reform. It is in this context that she obtained her undergraduate studies in Psychology of the University of Sevilla and her academic career began.

Between 1997 and 2010 Prof. Albar-Marín pioneered nursing research in the Hospital and was Coordinator of the Research Unit for over a decade. During this time, she supported nursing staff to lead in research activity related to nursing care practices and created research units across the Spanish Healthcare System. Her dissertation focused on the role of power in burnout of nursing staff from a psychopolitical perspective, and as a result, in 2008 was a founding member of the Center for Community Research Action CESPYD.

Prof. Albar-Marín has contributed to over 50 publications in high impact journals and expanding the research to various countries outside of Europe. Her topics focused from the providers who act as first responders to migrants, to her more recent line of research related to the social determinants of health and the Roma population in Europe. In 2019 Prof. Albar-Marin coordinated the RoMoMatteR Project funded by the European Commission (2019-2021) that has had international impact related to the mattering of Roma girls linked to motherhood, reproductive justice and a system-wide response during the pandemic, etc.

Since 1997, Prof. Albar-Marín has had an expansive teaching career at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as taking part in various teaching innovation projects.  One of her main contributions was leading and coordinating the Master in International Migrations, Health and Well-being at the University of Sevilla which continues today. This Master’s program attracts students from various countries around the globe, who come from multidisciplinary backgrounds.

Maria Jesus’ trajectory has been emblematic of the CESPYD research center work culture that values collaboration across disciplines, research excellence infused with values of care and ensure that research has impact on the ground and a belief that people can influence changes in our health care systems. CESPYD would like to say thank you as we continue to build on the foundations you have built.

We invite those that have crossed paths with María Jesus to leave her a short note on this board with a short note, photograph, or videos.