She and her husband Francisco Escobar del Rey [es] showed that thyroid hormones cross the placenta during pregnancy and are essential for fetal brain development.
She established a national newborn screening program for congenital hypothyroidism in Spain and helped to introduce iodised salt to prevent thyroid problems caused by iodine deficiency.
[2] Morreale and Escobar travelled to Leiden, the Netherlands, to perform post-doctoral research on thyroid hormone metabolism using radioisotopes of iodine.
With F. Escobar del Rey et al., “Scientific basis for the use of iodized salt in endemic gout prophylaxis”,in Spanish Clinical Journal, 54 (1953), pages.
393-399; With F. Escobar del Rey, “The effect of thiouracil, methylthiouracil and propylthiouracil on the metabolism of thyroid hormones in thyroidectomized lthyroxine maintained rats”, en VV.
With F. Escobar del Rey et al., “Increase of the rate of release of thyroidal 131-i and of circulating thyrotropic activity at early stages of propylthiouracil treatment in the rat”, in Nature, 191 (1961), pages.
7; With M. J. Obregón y F. Escobar del Rey, “Iodine deficiency and brain development in the first half of pregnancy”, in Public Health Nutrition, 10 (2007), pages.
), Perinatal development: origin of adult pathologies, Madrid, Spanish High School, Royal National Academy of Pharmacy, 2008, pages.