Roberta Vella Azzopardi

Dr. Roberta Vella Azzopardi is an active gerontology researcher affiliated with Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) as an unpaid employee in the Gerontology department. She is a core member of the Gerontopole Brussels Study group, focusing on frailty assessment and aging research in the oldest old population (80+ years).

Her research interests center on frailty assessment, cognitive aging, physical function in elderly, hearing and cognition relationships, and activities of daily living. Her work demonstrates a strong emphasis on operationalizing concepts like cognitive frailty and understanding the complex relationships between physical and cognitive decline in advanced age.

Dr. Vella Azzopardi's publication record shows consistent research productivity since 2014, with particular intensity between 2018-2022. Her work spans multiple methodologies including systematic reviews, cross-sectional analyses, and longitudinal studies like the BUTTERFLY study. The research demonstrates strong interdisciplinary connections between geriatrics, audiology, cognitive science, and rehabilitation medicine.

Her scholarly impact includes an h-index of 9 with 1029 citations according to Scopus data. Her work has been presented at numerous international conferences, with research activities spanning from 2015 to 2020 as documented in the institutional repository.

Dr. Vella Azzopardi completed her PhD thesis in 2022 titled 'Cognitive frailty: Operationalisation of the concept and the study of comorbidities as possible risk factors,' representing a significant 388-page contribution to the field. Her research has gained attention with mentions in news outlets and substantial readership on academic platforms like Mendeley.