On March 16, 2024, Professor Ana María Barber died in Pamplona (Spain). She was Emeritus professor of Physiology in the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition of the University of Navarra. She had retired in 2012 with an extensive career, after 42 years of intense teaching and research in the Faculties of Sciences, and of Pharmacy and Nutrition.

Ana was born in Pamplona in September 2, 1948. She obtained her bachelor degree in Biology in the University of Navarra (1970). She then joined the Department of Animal Physiology and, four years later, in September 1974, she defended her doctoral thesis “Active transport of sugars through the intestine of Cryptomphalus hortensis Müller”, under the direction of Prof. Francisco Ponz and Prof. Rafael Jordana. Since then, her research was dedicated to the study of the mechanisms and regulation of the intestinal absorption of nutrients and membrane transporters. She was also professor of General Biology, Human Physiology, Animal Physiology and Endocrinology in various degrees.

Between 1992 and 2007, Ana held management positions first in the Department of Animal Physiology and, later, in the Department of Physiology and Nutrition. She also was director of the Doctoral Program in Physiology and Nutrition. As an Ordinary member of the Spanish Society of Physiological Sciences, she actively participated in scientific meetings, being highly appreciated by physiologists from different Spanish universities. She also was actively involved in the European Intestinal Transport Group (EITG).

Ana was Editor in Chief of the Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry from 1994 to 2014, sharing that responsibility, from 1994 to 2009, with Prof. Francisco Ponz, one of the Journal’s co-founders. As a faithful disciple and collaborator of Prof. Ponz, from him she learned the scientific rigor and the search for truth, that she knew how to transmit to others.

Without a date or record in her academic resume, if Ana has stood out for anything, it is for her availability and loyalty to the University, and for her positive, affable, and serene disposition. Ana had the ability to welcome everyone with that great, endearing smile that characterized her. Of great intellectual height, she was notable for her discretion and humility, knowing how to be in the background to uplift others, and filling in when she was needed. And she always had very clear priorities to make her professional and family life compatible, since the most important achievement of her existence was her family.

I had the fortune of being her mentee as a young associate professor and then as her colleague. We worked together in research projects and as Editors in Chief of the Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry from 2010 to 2014.

Ana leaves us a great legacy of good professional work and humanity that we will not forget.

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