Mª Pilar Vaquero Rodrigo

Dr. M. Pilar Vaquero is head of the Minerals in Metabolism and Human Nutrition group at the Department of Metabolism and Nutrition of the ICTAN (CSIC). She holds a degree and PhD in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid, and her postdoctoral training took place at the TNO-Nutrition and Food Research Institute and at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). She held several teaching positions at the Complutense University of Madrid, in the area of Human Physiology and Nutrition.

Her research focuses on the study of the role of nutrients, bioactive compounds, foods or diets in the prevention of chronic diseases. She has extensive experience in validating the efficacy of functional foods in humans, and their interaction with pathophysiological and genetic factors.

Currently, her studies are conducted entirely in humans, assessing dietary intake and nutritional status using biomarkers, as well as the possible interaction of lifestyle habits and consumption of supplements on health status. The methodology involves the design and implementation of clinical studies, mainly randomised controlled trials in healthy participants.

She has an extensive professional career and has participated in numerous competitively funded research projects at European, national and regional level, and in contracts with industry, being the principal investigator in most of them. Among her international collaborations, she has participated in two worldwide meta-analysis studies, that included individual data from participants in randomised controlled trials. As a result of this activity, she is the author of numerous scientific articles and scientific-technical reports, has supervised eight doctoral theses, and has been editor of four books and a collective volume published in a high impact journal.