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Judith Garcia Aymerich

Judith Garcia Aymerich

Research Professor and Head of the Environment and Health over the Lifecourse Programme Respiratory diseases, Non-communicable Diseases and Environment

Judith Garcia-Aymerich studied Medicine at the University of Barcelona (UB), graduating in 1996, and obtained her doctorate in Public Health and Biomedical Research Methodology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in 2002.

Her work focuses on the factors that determine the development and prognosis of chronic respiratory diseases (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease[COPD]) throughout life. Other aspects include the definition and characterisation of the subtypes of these diseases and the use of advanced epidemiological methods (hypothesis-free and causal methods). The importance of her pioneering research on the role of physical activity in asthma and COPD has been recognised by several national and international awards.

Dr Garcia-Aymerich has participated as a principal investigator in large national and international multi-centre projects. She has published more than 200 scientific articles and has served on several expert committees tasked with developing international policies on pulmonary rehabilitation and physical activity in respiratory patients.

Current collaborations and projects include strategic alliances with researchers at KU Leuven University (Leuven, Belgium), the Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Prevention Institute (Zurich, Switzerland), and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Paris, France).

Lines of research

  • Epidemiology of chronic respiratory diseases (asthma and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD) 
  •  Physical activity and chronic respiratory diseases (asthma and COPD)
  •  Allergy-related and respiratory diseases phenotyping
  •  Hypothesis-free methods, causal methods

Main publications

  • Peralta GP, Fuertes E, Granell R, Mahmoud O, Roda C, Serra I, Jarvis D, Henderson J, Garcia-Aymerich J. Childhood Body Composition Trajectories and Adolescent Lung Function. Findings from the ALSPAC study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019 Jul 1;200(1):75-83. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201806-1168OC. PubMed PMID: 30630337; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6811931.
  • Arbillaga-Etxarri A, Gimeno-Santos E, Barberan-Garcia A, Balcells E, Benet M, Borrell E, Celorrio N, Delgado A, Jané C, Marin A, Martín-Cantera C, Monteagudo M, Montellà N, Muñoz L, Ortega P, Rodríguez DA, Rodríguez-Roisin R, Simonet P, Torán-Monserrat P, Torrent-Pallicer J, Vall-Casas P, Vilaró J, Garcia-Aymerich J. Long-term efficacy and effectiveness of a behavioural and community-based exercise intervention (Urban Training) to increase physical activity in patients with COPD: a randomised controlled trial. Eur Respir J. 2018 Oct 18;52(4). pii: 1800063. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00063-2018. Print 2018 Oct. PubMed PMID: 30166322; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6203405.
  • Gimeno-Santos E, Raste Y, Demeyer H, Louvaris Z, de Jong C, Rabinovich RA, Hopkinson NS, Polkey MI, Vogiatzis I, Tabberer M, Dobbels F, Ivanoff N, de Boer WI, van der Molen T, Kulich K, Serra I, Basagaña X, Troosters T, Puhan MA, Karlsson N, Garcia-Aymerich J; PROactive consortium. The PROactive instruments to measure physical activity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Eur Respir J. 2015 Oct;46(4):988-1000. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00183014. Epub 2015 May 28. PubMed PMID: 26022965; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4589432.
  • Garcia-Aymerich J, et al. Identification and prospective validation of clinically relevant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) subtypes. Thorax 2011; 66(5): 430-437.
  • Garcia-Aymerich J, et al. Regular physical activity modifies smoking-related lung function decline and reduces risk of COPD: a population-based cohort study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007;175:458-63.
  • Garcia-Aymerich J, et al. Regular physical activity reduces hospital admission and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a population based cohort study. Thorax 2006;61:772-8.

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