Dr. Simón is a reproductive endocrinologist with a long career as a physician-scientist. Board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Spain, he is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Valencia, Spain; Senior Lecturer at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University; and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Baylor College of Medicine.
After receiving his MD and a PhD in Genetics from the University of Valencia School of Medicine, Dr. Simón completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Hospital Clínico Universitario in Valencia, and post-doctoral training in Reproductive Endocrinology at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University.
In 1994, Dr. Simón was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Valencia and, in 2007, was promoted to Professor to continue leading reproductive science research. From 2009 to 2011, he served as Scientific Director of the Príncipe Felipe Research Center, one of the top research institutions in Spain.
Among the world’s leading experts in Reproductive Biology, especially in the area of human embryo implantation, Dr. Simón’s research emphasizes the dialogue between the embryo and endometrium, as well as the role of endometrial stem cells in the biology of reproduction. His research has led to more than 460 peer-reviewed publications in international journals. His Google Scholar index is 103, and his H-index is 78. He has edited 19 books in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, including two recent best-sellers. One of these books received the 2018 British Medical Association’s Medical Book Award in the Obstetrics and Gynecology category.
His team worked on the role of the interleukin-1 system during embryonic implantation. Moreover, his work on the molecular characterization of endometrial receptivity in humans has been the subject of more than 30 publications and has led to the identification of the transcriptomic signature of human endometrial receptivity. Clinical translation of this work yielded a patent for the creation of a customized endometrial receptivity analysis, which has been validated internationally. Furthermore, the discoveries on human endometrial receptivity were recently analyzed at the single-cell level. His group identified an endometrial microbiota with functional implications in early pregnancy, as well as a “decidual defect” in patients with severe preeclampsia, a pathology detectable at the time of delivery and persisting for years and attributed, in part, to a deficiency in a protein called annexin A-2.
The contributions of Dr. Simón have been recognized nationally and internationally. He received the Prize Jaime I in Medical Investigation in 2011, the KY Cha Award in Stem Cell Research in 2014, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Distinguished Research Award in 2016, and other awards from ASRM, the Society for Reproductive Investigation, the Spanish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Spanish Fertility Society.
Throughout the years, Dr. Simón’s research has been funded by 35 competitive grants from the European Commission, the National Institutes of Health, the Spanish Government, and the Valencian Government. He is also the coordinator of a multimillion-Euro European Commission- funded project—the Human Uterus Cell Atlas (HUTER)—which aims to derive single-cell and spatial maps of the healthy female uterus across the lifespan.
Dr. Simón has served on the Editorial Board of 14 scientific journals including as Associate Editor of Human Reproduction (2001-2007), Fertility & Sterility (2011-2016), Editorial Editor of Fertility & Sterility (2016 to present), and Editor for preconceptional care for the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AJOG) (since 2020).
Romero, American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2020; EDI 5.6.0 DTD: 1-2