Josep Vidal Alaball, coordinator of the Central Catalonia Research Support Unit (USR Catalunya Central) of the Jordi Gol Primary Care Research Institute (IDIAPJGol) and the Catalan Health Institute (ICS), has been appointed Full Professor at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC). With this appointment, Vidal becomes the second Full Professor of Family and Community Medicine in Catalonia.

Josep Vidal has been an Associate Professor at UVic-UCC since 2023, although he has collaborated with the university since 2017, teaching Family Medicine. One year after, he earned his PhD from the same university with a thesis on telemedicine.

Dr Vidal holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona. He completed his specialist training in Family and Community Medicine in the United Kingdom and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in public health from Cardiff University. Since 2007, he has worked as a family physician at the Central Catalonia Primary Care Management Division of the ICS, combining clinical and management responsibilities across different primary care teams.

The newly appointed Full Professor at UVic-UCC is an expert in digital health. At IDIAPJGol, he is the principal investigator of the Intelligence for Primary Care (I4PC) research group, which promotes research into artificial intelligence and other innovative technologies aimed at improving management processes, service efficiency, and clinical interventions in primary care.

He is also a member of the Health Promotion in Rural Areas (PROSAARU) research group, where he leads the research line on new technologies and telemedicine. He is a member of EURIPA, the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association, as well as the assembly of the WONCA Working Party on Rural Practice (RuralWonca).