Investigadores Principales

Leocadio Rodriguez-Mañas

PhD, MD, DIABFRAIL LATAM coordinator. Professor Rodriguez-Mañas is Head of the Geriatric Department of University Hospital of Getafe, Madrid; Director of the Spanish Network on Aging and Frailty of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Co-Director of the Toledo Study on Healthy Aging, where the Frailty Score Index has been developed to assess frailty in community-dwelling older adults. He is also the Principal Investigator in 36 research projects, three of them funded by the EU 7th Framework Program and three funded by the European Commission’s Health Program, all of them focused on the field of frailty in elderly people, including the coordination of the European Joint Action on Frailty Prevention (ADVANTAGE), which comprises more than 40 public entities from 24 European countries.

He also participates as a WP leader in two Horizon 2020 projects and in one IMI. Dr Rodríguez-Mañas is also the director of the Spanish Biomedical Network Research Centre on Frailty (CIBERFES). Member of the Working Group on Health & Performance (Joint Program Innovation “More Years, Better Lives” of the European Union). Advisor to Pan-American Health Organization, Spanish Ministry of Health and Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Participant in Guidelines and documents for clinical uses in older people with diabetes. Coordinator of the Group on “Integrated Pathways of Care” in the A3 Action Plan (Prevention and early diagnosis of frailty and functional decline) in the European Innovation Partnership on Active Healthy Aging (EIP-AHA).

Dra. Olga Laosa Zafra

PhD, MD. Clinical pharmacologist at University Hospital of Getafe in Madrid, (Spain). With 15 years’ experience in clinical trials, last 8 focused in older population, Olga Laosa is now participating as coinvestigator in three international research projects funded by the European Commission (FP7 research projects). One of them, MID FRAIL project, is a clinical trial involving almost 1000 older subjects in Europe. Currently, she is responsible for the Clinical Trial Unit for Older people at University Hospital of Getafe; and she works as clinical pharmacologist in the Ethics Committee at the Hospital. Additionally, she is participating in the EIP on AHA A1 Prescription and adherence to medical plans group. She is co-author in several publications in the area of clinical trials and frailty and she has presented several works in international and national conferences.

Francisco Mansoa

European Business manager at Biomedical Research Foundation, University Hospital of Getafe, has a wide experience in R&D European Collaborative projects. After receiving his BA degree in law complemented with specific training in human resources, he entered the consulting sector in the area of grants and public funding, providing support initially for different types of projects in the areas of environment, energy and innovation and then focusing on European research projects, working for different clients, from industry to academia in their research initiatives. Francisco has extensive experience in European research and development, mainly in the biomedical sector, particularly in the preparation and submission of proposals to EC funded programs (H2020, FP7, Health program, IMI, EIT Health), project and consortium management; grant agreement negotiation process, conflict resolution, IPR and legal and financial issues related to European research programs.

Professor José Viña, Principal Investigator (male)

After pursuing his studies in Medicine at the University of Valencia, and doing research work under Prof Hans Krebs (Krebs cycle) in Oxford, he obtained his PhD in 1976. Prof Viña taught Physiology at Extremadura University and then returned to Valencia and took up his present position as full Professor of Physiology at the University of Valencia. Here Prof Viña combines his teaching duties with research work, the latter in two main lines, ageing and exercise. José Viña leads a successful research group named FRESHAGE working on different aspects of ageing, including healthy ageing, exercise and Alzheimer’s disease. He has published widely (over 300 publications in prestigious international journals) on glutathione, mitochondria, oxidative stress, free radicals and nutrition. Prof Viña has received numerous awards and honours, the most recent of which is the Albert Struyvenberg Medal, awarded by the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) 2017. He has also been awarded two Doctor honoris causa, Buenos Aires University (Argentina) and Rennes University (France). Dr Vina is President-Elect of the Society for Free Radical Research International (SFRR-E).

Mikel Izquierdo (male)

is Head and full Professor of Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology in the Department of Health Sciences of the Public University of Navarra. He also holds and an appointment as a professor of Sport Biomechanics at the Centre of Studies of the Spanish Olympic Committee. Additionally, he was the Head of the Unit of the Research, Studies and Sport Medicine Center of the Government of Navarra from 2005-2010. Principal investigator and collaborator in several EU- funded projects focused on frailty and exercise: VIVIFRAIL to Promote and recommend changes in lifestyle associated with physical exercise for frail patients at risk of functional decline and MID-FRAIL to test the efficacy of a multimodal intervention in prefrail/frail older patients with type 2 diabetes. Actually is collaborating with WHO in the implementation of an physical exercise program as a global strategy of intervention in frailty and risk of falling prevention. His current research interests include the neuromuscular biomechanics of muscle strength and power with special interest in strength training in both the elite athlete and the aging human. Prof. Mikel Izquierdo has published more than 250 original articles in peer-reviewed journals and have been supervisor of more that 20 PhD students.

Rol Angeles, Ph.D, Professor

Angeles Rol is Professor at the University of Murcia from 2004. She obtained her PhD at the Complutense University in Madrid in 1997 and her Degree in Biological Sciences in 1992 at the same University. She has participated in more than 23 research projects and in 13 research contracts with several companies. She is Member of the Spanish Sleep Society. She has published 58 scientific publications (28 of them in the last 5 years), developed 3 patents and 6 intellectual property registrations. She is Co-Founder of Chronobiotech, B-73604837, and Kronohealth, B-73953044, two spin-off companies devoted to sleep and circadian assessment. Researcher ID C-6718-2009.

Prof. Roberto Bernabei (male) 

Professor and Chair, Department of Aging, Neurosciences, Head-neck and Orthopaedics. Full Professor of Internal Medicine at Catholic University of Sacred Hearth (1990-Present) and Chair of Department of Aging, Neurosciences, Head-neck and Orthopaedics at “Agostino Gemelli” University Hospital (2004-Present). Visiting professor at Department of Community Health of Brown University School of Medicine, RI USA(2000-2009). Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Downstate Medical Center, New York (1981-1982) Long Term Care Visiting Professor, Hackensack University Medical Center (2001)

Professor Alan Sinclair MSc MD FRCP (principal investigator, male)

Director of Diabetes Frail Ltd. Senior Medical Practitioner and Clinical Academic; WHO Expert in Diabetes and in Frailty; Geriatrician and Diabetologist, Significant experience in conducting EU-funded clinical trials; IAGG Presidential Medal Award 2013 for services to older people and diabetes.

Dr Ahmed Abdelhafiz MD FRCP (Honorary Senior Medical Investigator, male)

Consultant Geriatrician in NHS. Experience of EU-clinical trial methodology – former UK collaborator with MIDFRAIL FP7 Study.

Luz María Peña Longobardo (female)

Principal Investigator. Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law of the Castilla-La Mancha University, Toledo, Spain. Her research interests concentrate on health service research, economic evaluation, cost of illness studies and social costs. These researches have been carried out with the support of both national and international projects obtained in competitive calls and research contracts funded by public institutions (European Commission, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Regional Ministries of Health) and private firms and foundations. She has published 21 articles in both national and international journals with high impact factor.

Mrs. Belén Sánchez (female)

Degree in Political Science and Public Administration, specialization in International Relations with special Mention in European Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Master in European Communities. Currently, she is responsible for the management of CEOMA’s International Relations department, in charge of the management of the European Programmes in which the Confederation is involved and in charge of relationships with other elder people’s associations through the AGE Platform. She has participated and coordinated several projects and activities such as carrying the organization of Congresses, Conferences, Fairs and assistance in the against discrimination’s European Programmes She is also Secretary of CEOMA’s International Relations Commission.

Carlos Alberto Cano-Gutierrez (Principal Investigator, male)

Geriatrician. Full Professor Medicine School, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá Colombia. More than 23 years of experience as a researcher involved in clinical and population studies and the diagnosis and treatment of dementias in Colombia and other countries in Latin America. Since 1994, along with his colleagues, he created the Memory and Cognitive Center (Intellectus) at the University San Ignacio´s Hospital of the Javeriana University (PUJ). In 2000, Prof. Cano created the Aging Institute at PUJ, in order to offer treatment and investigation programs. In 2009 he opened the postgraduate program in geriatrics medicine. At present, more than 24 geriatricians in training, 10 geriatric professors, psychiatrists, neurologists, neuropsychologists, psychologists, and post doc students are under his supervision to research on clinical and translational normal and pathological aging. Lately, they obtained grants to study normal and pathological aging in national population survey. Additionally, Prof. Cano is a National Consultant in aging public policy. His academic and research training and experience in addition to his professional connections made him able to take a leading role in this project. In his clinic, they have seen an increase of the number of inquiries from patients with Diabetes, hypertension, frailty, sarcopenia and malnutrition. This gives them the opportunity to assess and investigate these impairments to make better diagnosis and prognosis assessment of the disease. As director of the Institute of Aging, Prof. Cano supports the research, also coordinating and mphasizing the importance of the interdisciplinary work between clinical and other areas.

Pedro Paulo Marín (Principal Investigator, male)

Full Professor Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Faculty of Medicine UC, Honorary Board Director of Centro UC Estudios Vejez y Envejecimiento (CEVE-UC), President, Fundación Alimenta, Member of the Board of the Latin american Academy of Medicine for Older Adults – ALMA, Head of the Academic Geriatric Program, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Chile (September 1994 onwards). President of the “Geriatric and Gerontological Center UC, Chile” at the Catholic University of Chile (2000-2014) that was a WHO Collaborative Center on ageing and health (2005-2014), President of the Latin-American Region – COMLAT of the International Association of Gerontology – IAGG (2004-2008), Member of the Advisory Board of the Merck Institute on Ageing and Health -MIAH (2004-2006), FACP fellow American College of Physicians

Walter Sepúlveda-Loyola:

PhD, MSc, and PT.  Associate Professor Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Universidad de Las Americas, Santiago, Chile. He is currently developing a Post Doc in Rehabilitation Sciences at State University of Londrina, Brazil.  During his doctorate he did a research fellow at the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science (AIMSS) of the University of Melbourne (Australia) and completed his doctoral studies at CIBERFES (Spain).  He is author and co-author of more than 30 scientific articles in geriatrics and gerontology field, in high-impact international journals. Winner of 6 international study scholarships, such as: Scholarship from the Organization of American States and the World Health Organization, and the scholarship from the Brazilian government. Winner of different international awards for his research, among which stand out: Best work in Biomedical Sciences of the Australian and New Zealand Society for the study of frailty and sarcopenia, in Dunedin, 2018.  Member of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Sarcopenia and Frailty Research. He has presented several works in international and national conferences.

Dr. Luis Miguel Gutiérrez Robledo (Team leader for the DIAB-FRAIL LATAM project, male)

Founding director of INGer. Trained as a Geriatrician in France, with a doctoral degree in Epidemiology – Public Health from Bordeaux University. Dr. Gutierrez Robledo has been a main actor in a vast number of initiatives, projects and interventions aimed at achieving the well being of the Mexican elderly over the past three decades.

José Francisco Parodi-García (male)

1940. Principal Investigator. Geriatrician. Master in Public Health with concentration in Epidemiology. Director of the Research Center of Ageing of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of San Martín de Porres. Researcher Certify in the Peruvian National Register of Researchers (REGINA) number 1940. Professor of Geriatric Medicine, Public Health and Health Management in under and post graduate levels. Temporal Advisor in Public Health and Ageing of the Panamerican Health Organization – PAHO. Medical Director of Bamboo Senior Health Services. Member of the Board of the Latinamerican Academy of Medicine for Older Adults – ALMA. Member of the expert center of the International Federation of Ageing. Master Trainer of the Stanford University Self management Program “TCS”. Author and coauthor of many chapters of books and articles in journals.