Rafael Maldonado

Rafael Maldonado, MD, PhD, received his Medical Degree in 1985 from the School of Medicine of the University of Cadiz in Spain, where he also obtained a PhD in Neuropsychopharmacology in 1988 on the effects of benzodiazepines and antidepressants on morphine dependence. In 1990, he obtained a PhD in Molecular Pharmacochemistry (INSERM U 266) at the School of Pharmacy (University René Descartes Paris V, France) on the participation of the endogenous opioid system on the development of opioid dependence. Then, he was a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, USA), directed by Prof. G.F. Koob, where he studied the neuroanatomical substrate of opioid dependence and cocaine self-administration. Thereafter, he returned to the laboratory of Molecular Pharmacochemistry (INSERM U266), directed by Prof. B.P. Roques in Paris, where he obtained permanent position as Scientific Researcher (CR-1) in the INSERM (1992) and led a pharmacological team devoted to the study of the cannabinoid and opioid systems by using pharmacological and molecular approaches. In 2000, he obtained a permanent position as Professor at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where he is director of the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, with 34 persons under his direction. Laboratory work is based on studies of the physiological role of the endogenous cannabinoid and opioid systems in drug addiction, affective and cognitive disorders, pain and eating disorders, with a particular focus in the development of novel behavioural models and novel treatments for those disorders.

Papers in database

2

Years active

2025 – 2026