On October 31 2009, 87-year-old Catalan urologist José María Gil-Vernet Vila was given an award in Shanghais by the Société International d'Urologie (SIU) for his professional career. The SIU, founded in 1907, whose members represent the full spectrum of clinicians and researchers in all subspecialties of Urology, has as mission to deliver, through international cooperation in education and research, the highest standards of Urologic care to the specialists worldwide. This Teknon clinic specialist was the first to practice kidney transplants in Spain.