Dr. Maria Fernandez del Valle
Assistant Professor
(e-mail)
Education:
PhD, 2012, Physical Activity and Health, European University of Madrid (Spain)
MAS, 2006, Physical Activity and Health, European University of Madrid (Spain)
Licentiate, 2004, Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, European University of Madrid (Spain)
Phone:
618-650-5905
Office:
2626 Vadalabene Center
About Dr. Fernandez
Dr. Fernandez was trained at the European University Exercise Physiology Laboratory and at the Pediatric Hospital Niño Jesus Clinical Exercise Physiology Laboratory in Madrid (2004-2012). The primary focus of these laboratories was to promote evidence-based research regarding the role of exercise in physical function, quality of life and prognosis of patients with several pathologies. She worked with different chronic pathologies such as cancer, eating disorders, cerebral palsy, McArdle disease, Parkinson’s disease, etc. As a result of these collaborations and training, she co-authored several articles in high-quality journals, and received two National Research Awards in Sports Medicine (2006, and 2010). From her doctoral research, she received two national research awards in 2013, and published four articles (2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016).
Research Profile
Dr. Fernandez' overall goal as a scientist is to provide more scientific evidence to support the benefits of resistance training as a tool to improve body composition and muscular fitness. Since 2013, her research has focused on the effects of exercise on total and regional body composition. This line of research has strong implications for obesity, overweight, metabolic diseases, and other comorbidities associated with obesity. Up to date, Dr. Fernandez has been awarded an AHA-AIREA grant as Co-I (2017) and an ICTS-JIT award (2017) from Washington University at St. Louis through her collaboration with Dr. Klingensmith (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at SIUE). Dr. Fernandez research focuses also on the study of menstrual cycle and its effects on metabolism and hormone concentrations in response to resistance training. This line of research has the potential to improve women’s health and performance through cycle-synced exercise prescription and programming.
As a research mentor, Dr. Fernandez has worked with more numerous undergraduate and graduate students, that have received several research awards. Since at SIUE, ten students have been awarded with undergraduate research awards (Fall 2016 – Fall 2019), and three of her graduate students received competitive graduate awards (2017-2020) and graduate research project awards (2018-2020).
Publications (selected)
Fernandez-del-Valle M, Gonzales, JU, Kloiber, S, Mitra, S, Klingensmith, J, Larumbe-Zabala, E. Effects of resistance training on MRI-derived epicardial fat volume and arterial stiffness in women with obesity: a randomized pilot study. European Journal of Applied Physiology European Journal of Applied Physiology, June 2018, 118(6), 1231-1240.
Fernandez-del-Valle M, Short, M., Chung, E., Kloiber, S., McComb, J, Naclerio, F., Larumbe-Zabala E. Effects of high-intensity resistance training on circulating levels of irisin in healthy adults: A randomized controlled trial. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine (Accepted 1/13/2018).
García, J.A.; Cárdenas, A.; Burgos, S.; Santiago, C.; Hernández, F.; Sanz, V.; Fernandez-del-Valle, M.; Rubio, M. y Pérez, M. Lifestyle and Fat Distribution in Asthmatic and Healthy Adolescents. Revista Internacional de Medicina y Ciencias de la Actividad Física y el Deporte. In press (1/21/2018).
Klingensmith JD, Elliott AL, Fernandez-del-Valle M, Mitra S. Automated segmentation of cardiac adipose tissue in Dixon magnetic resonance images. J Biomed Graph Comput, 2018, 8(1): 1-13.
Klingensmith JD, Sop S, Naz M, Fernandez Del Valle M, Lee HF. Three-dimensional modeling and assessment of cardiac adipose tissue distribution. J Biomed Graph Comput, 2018, 8(1): 14-28.
J. E. Hill, M. Fernandez-del-Valle M, & S. Mitra, “An automated segmentation for direct assessment of adipose tissue distribution from thoracic and abdominal Dixon-technique MR images”, Proc. SPIE 10133, Medical Imaging 2017: Image Processing, 1013315 (February 24, 2017); doi:10.1117/12.2254481
Mitra S, Fernandez-del-Valle M, Hill EJ. The role of MRI understanding the underlying mechanisms in obesity associated diseases. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 Sep 14. pii: S0925-4439(16)30226-5. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2016.09.008
Fernandez-del-Valle M, Larumbe-Zabala E, Mornade Lavin G, Perez Ruiz M. Body composition profile and muscle function in adolescents with restrictive anorexia nervosa: Does resistance training help? Disability and Rehabilitation. 18 June 2015; Vol.38:346-353. DOI: 10.3109/09638288.2015.1041612
Fernandez-del-Valle M, Larumbe-Zabala E, Graell Berna M, Perez Ruiz M. Anthropometric changes in adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa after resistance training. Eating and Weight Disorders. 2015 Sep;20(3):311-7. doi: 10.1007/s40519-015-0181-4. Epub 2015 Feb 8.
Rodriguez-Ruiz D, Diez I, Rodriguez-Matoso D, Fernandez-del-Valle M, Sagastume R, Molina JJ. Analysis of the response speed of musculature of the knee in professional male and female volleyball players. BioMed Research International. 06/2014; 2014. (ID 239708):8. DOI: 10.1155/2014/239708.
