Dr. Virginia A Aparicio combines physical activity and nutrition epidemiology with clinical physiology to study the interaction between lifestyle and metabolic disorders.

During her PhD in Sport Sciences, her research was mainly focused on studying the association of body composition, physical activity and fitness on fibromyalgia symptoms. She also determined, for the first time, physical fitness cut offs for the better diagnosis and monitoring of fibromyalgia and tested the effectiveness of exercise-based interventions on fibromyalgia symptoms in women. She also obtained a Master degree in Human Nutrition and got the FPI grant for working in a research project that allowed her to do a second PhD in Physiology, where she investigated the effects of resistance training, high-protein diets and steroids on metabolic outcomes in different organs and systems in animal models.

As a post-doc, she focused on studying two relevant physiological stages in women: menopause and pregnancy. First, she coordinated the “FLAMENCO” project, where she investigated the association of physical activity andfitness with health outcomes in perimenopausal women, as well as the effect and cost-effectiveness of an exercise program on this population. Afterwards, the candidate obtained the Andalucía Talent-Hub Fellowship (Marie-Curie Program), which allowed her working in the “DALI” EU project (Vitamin D & Lifestyle Intervention for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention) at VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam. During this period, she also coordinated the project “GESTAFIT”, which studied the effects of an exercise intervention during pregnancy on maternal and foetal health markers. In addition, during the postdoc stage she studied the association of physical activity and fitness on cardiometabolic risk in different populations and settings (experimental animal models with the metabolic syndrome, Moroccan women, adult general population, etc.).

All this experience has allowed her to interact with national and international experts and show independent thinking, project management skills and leaderships qualities.

1.- Scientific contributions and publication´s capacity: She has published 110 papers in international journals indexed in JCR-ISI and 13 in national journals or other databases (SJCR, Latindex, DICE, etc.). Virginia A. Aparicio has 66 papers in JCR-ISI as first or last author. Among those, 76 of them have been published in Q1 (top 25%). Her H-index to date is 29, her i-10 index is 78, and her papers present more than 2700 citations (google-scholar source). She has also written scientific letters where she focused on the role of physical activity for improving people’s health. To highlight, the letter published in The New England Journal of Medicine (PMID: 26863364). Dr. Aparicio has published a total of 9 books and 14 book chapters. Moreover, she has been invited speaker in 35 conferences and she has authored or co-authored 47 oral communications and 116 posters in peer-reviewed congresses, most of them. She has supervised 5 doctoral Theses, 24 MSc, and is currently supervising 4 PhD Theses that will be.

2.- Participation in projects and capacity for leading his own research line: Virginia A. Aparicio has been involved in 34 research projects (8 by the national Government plan, 9 Regional, 2 European and 7 from other institutions, and 8 research agreements). Moreover, she is the PI of the project: “Cost-effectiveness of an exercise program in perimenopausal women; Acronym: FLAMENCO (the Fitness League Against MENopause Cost)” (ref: PI-0667-2013), funded by the Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucía. Also, she has directed the project entitled “Influence of physical activity levels, physical fitness and dietary habits of the pregnant woman on maternal and foetal health markers; Acronym: GESTAFIT (GESTAtion and Fitness)”, where she is also the PI. Currently, she is the PI of the project “Effects of a supervised exercise program during pregnancy on the length of telomeres and markers of gene expression related to adiposity in the mother and newborn. A randomized controlled trial” (ref: PI-0395-2016), funded by the Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucía, and which will continue the work/topic line started in the GESTAFIT project.

3.- International research network and activities: Virginia A. Aparicio has done 10 research stays (42 months): 5 international (3 at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, 15 months, two in the Faculty of Science in Tetouan, Morocco, 1 month) and 2 months in the UEX. She has also done two international postdoctoral stays: 4 months at Swelmmeis University (Budapest, Hungary) and 15 months at VU University Medical Centre (Amsterdam, Netherlands). Finally, she made 2 national postdoctoral stays (5 months) in the UCA.

Highlighted publications

1.  Virginia A. Aparicio, Irene Coll-Risco, Daniel Camiletti-Moirón, Elena Nebot, Rosario Martínez, María López-Jurado, Pilar Aranda. Interval aerobic training combined with strength-endurance exercise improves metabolic markers beyond caloric restriction in Zucker rats. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. 2016; 26, 713-721. Q1, IF: 3.3.
2. Virginia A. Aparicio; Víctor Segura-Jiménez; Inmaculada C. Álvarez-Gallardo; Alberto Soriano-Maldonado; José Castro-Piñero; Manuel Delgado-Fernández; Ana Carbonell-Baeza. Fitness testing in the fibromyalgia diagnosis: the al-Ándalus project. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise. 2015 Mar;47(3):451-9; Q1. 4/85; IF: 4.5.
3. Soriano-Maldonado A, Aparicio VA, Ortega FB. Cardiometabolic Risks and Obesity in the Young. N Engl J Med. 2016 Feb 11;374(6):592. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1513890.
4. Aparicio VA, Carbonell‐Baeza A, Senhaji M, Martín S, Camiletti‐Moirón D, Aranda P. Useful of fitness testing to establish metabolic syndrome in Moroccan perimenopausal women. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 2014 Dec;13(6):524-31; Q1; 6/104. IF: 2.
5. Virginia A. Aparicio, Alberto Soriano-Maldonado, Francisco Buitrago, Francisco J. Félix-Redondo, Daniel Fernández-Bergés. The role of sex and domestic physical activity on the metabolically healthy and unhealthy obesity. The HERMEX study. Revista Española de Cardiología, 2017, Oct;69(10):983-986. IF: 4.9.  Q1
6. Coll-Risco I, Acosta-Manzano P, Borges-Cosic M, Camiletti-Moiron D, Aranda P, Soriano-Maldonado A, Aparicio VA. Body Composition Changes Following a Concurrent Exercise Intervention in Perimenopausal Women: The FLAMENCO Project Randomized Controlled Trial. J Clin Med. 2019;14;8(10). pii: E1678. doi: 10.3390/jcm8101678.
7. Aparicio VA, Ocón O, Diaz-Castro J, Acosta-Manzano P, Coll-Risco I, Borges-Cósic M, Romero-Gallardo L, Moreno-Fernández J, Ochoa-Herrera JJ. Influence of a Concurrent Exercise Training Program During Pregnancy on Colostrum and Mature Human Milk Inflammatory Markers: Findings From the GESTAFIT Project. J Hum Lact. 2018;34(4):789-798. doi: 10.1177/0890334418759261. Epub 2018; 30.
8. Acosta-Manzano P, Coll-Risco I, Van Poppel MNM, Segura-Jiménez V, Femia P, Romero-Gallardo L, Borges-Cosic M, Díaz-Castro J, Moreno-Fernández J, Ochoa-Herrera JJ, Aparicio VA. Influence of a Concurrent Exercise Training Intervention during Pregnancy on Maternal and Arterial and Venous Cord Serum Cytokines: The GESTAFIT Project. J Clin Med. 2019; 3;8(11). pii: E1862. doi: 10.3390/jcm8111862.
9. Aparicio VA, Marín-Jiménez N, Coll-Risco I, de la Flor-Alemany M, Baena-García L, Acosta-Manzano P, Aranda P. Doctor, ask your perimenopausal patient about her physical fitness; association of self-reported physical fitness with cardiometabolic and mental health in perimenopausal women: the FLAMENCO project. Menopause. 2019;26(10):1146-1153. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001384.
10. Baena-García L, Coll-Risco I, Ocón-Hernández O, Romero-Gallardo L, Acosta-Manzano P, May L, Aparicio VA. Association of objectively measured physical fitness during pregnancy with maternal and neonatal outcomes. The GESTAFIT Project. PLoS One. 2020; 18;15(2):e0229079. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229079.