Judith Garcia-Aymerich

Judith Garcia-Aymerich is a Professor at Pompeu Fabra University and Secretary General of the European Respiratory Society (2022-2025), affiliated with ISGlobal (Barcelona Institute for Global Health). Her work bridges academic research, clinical practice, and global health policy in respiratory epidemiology.

Her academic credentials include:

• Graduated in Medicine from University of Barcelona (UB), 1996
• PhD in Public Health and Biomedical Research Methodology from Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), 2002

Dr. Garcia-Aymerich pioneers research on COPD pathophysiology through the lens of physical activity, mobility, and socio-environmental determinants. Her methodological innovations include developing activity monitors, patient-reported outcomes tools, and causal inference frameworks using life course epidemiology. She examines how urban environments, body composition, and dietary patterns interact with respiratory health across populations, emphasizing rigorous hypothesis-free disease characterization.

Her 300+ publications (H-index 68) reveal consistent focus on COPD phenotyping, physical activity measurement tools (notably PROactive instruments), and urban health interventions. Recent work integrates patient voice in mobility frameworks and examines childhood body composition impacts on lung development, demonstrating translational impact through updated clinical guidelines.

She has received multiple national and international awards for pioneering COPD lifestyle research, though specific honors aren't detailed in source materials.

As principal investigator of numerous multicenter cohort studies and clinical trials, she secures significant research funding while supervising 12 doctoral theses and mentoring 7 postdocs. Her teaching portfolio at Pompeu Fabra spans epidemiology, research methods, and chronic disease management across undergraduate and graduate programs.

At ISGlobal, she leads collaborative teams developing patient/clinician tools and advising regulatory bodies, with ongoing projects examining environmental impacts on respiratory health through European Respiratory Society initiatives.