Ayrat Rinatovich Gatiyatov, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, presented Doctor of Science Fernando González Bermúdez with a diploma and medal for his contribution to the Yury Alexandrovich Orlov Moscow Institute of Palaeontology.

The Russian vice-titular granted the recognition for the fact that his Cuban colleague constitutes a reference in ecology, biodiversity and environment, in the ceremony of decoration, carried out in the National Hotel of Cuba, informed the Department of Communication, of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma).

He said he welcomed them on behalf of all Cuban scientists linked to these major science and technological innovation projects and said he was proud to belong to the generation that began scientific-technical collaboration in the 60s and 70s of the last century.

González Bermúdez studied medicine at the University of Havana and graduated in 1969. In 1975 he obtained the degree of Doctor of Science and in 1982 he became a Full Researcher.

He has a long working and professional career, having fulfilled responsibilities in important scientific centres or related institutions, among them, deputy director of the National Centre for Animal Health.

He was head of the Institute of Zoology of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, founder and general director of the National Centre for the Production of Laboratory Animals from 1982 to 2004 and between 2004 and 2020 first deputy minister of Citma.

In this body, in the period 2004 to 2009, he served as acting minister, due to the death of Minister Rosa Elena Simeón, when he was linked to the State Plan to confront climate change, called Tarea Vida, approved by the Council of Ministers in 2017, with the aim of counteracting the damage that could occur in the country in the coming years. (Author: Lino Luben Pérez)