Dr. Cristina Udina Argilaga, MD, geriatrician and researcher at the RE-FiT Bcn Research group (VHIR / Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili)

I received my degree in Medicine from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2011) and my specialization in Geriatric Medicine from Hospital del Mar (2016). Since 2016, I am a staff geriatrician at Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili (Barcelona), especially dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of older adults with cognitive and gait impairment in the outpatient clinic. I combine the clinical work with research as a member of the RE-FiT Bcn research group (“Recerca en Envelliment, Fragilitat i Transicions a Barcelona”), which is part of the Chronic, Prevalent Diseases & Aging eCORE at VHIR.

My main research interest is the study of the relationship between cognitive and motor function among older adults. This is in fact the topic of my PhD thesis, which I will be defending at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2022. In the recent years, we have been able to lead several research projects (PI: Dr Marco Inzitari) with the global aim to further study this cognitive-motor relationship with a focus on its neural correlates using medical optics as neuroimaging techniques  (in collaboration with researchers from Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, ICFO). The Brain-FIT Lab at RE-FiT Bcn research group has since emerged as a multidisciplinary team that conduct these studies (including physicians, physiotherapists and neuropsychologists).

In this seminar I will present the results from the MEDPHOTAGE project, our first collaboration with ICFO. The main aim of the project was to study prefrontal cortex hemodynamics in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment using a diffuse optic technique, functional Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy. To assess between-group differences in brain activation we measured prefrontal blood flow during gait under various degrees of attention-load (dual-task). In the second part of the webinar, I will present the study protocol of the FRONT STAGE project, an ongoing RCT to study the effect of a 10-week intervention based on physical exercise (+ transcranial direct current stimulation) on cognitive, motor and prefrontal hemodynamics measures.

Host: Dr. Marco Inzitari, Head of the Research group on Aging, Frailty and Transitions in Barcelona

Online Connection https://gencat.zoom.us/j/99244562554