Ana Puga

Dr. Ana María Puga Giménez de Azcárate obtained her degree in Pharmacy in 2008 from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Subsequently, she joined the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology at this university and began her doctoral thesis with an FPI (Researcher Training) grant from the Ministry of Science and Innovation. During this period, her research focused on the application of various biomimetic approaches for the preparation of intelligent drug delivery systems, including implants, microgels, polymeric micelles, and combination products of drugs and medical devices, based on different biomaterials. Additionally, during this time, she received two grants to conduct research stays of three months each in renowned research groups at different European universities (from September to December 2010 at the 3B Research Group of the University of Minho in Portugal and from September to December 2011 at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom). She completed her Ph.D. in November 2013 with the highest distinction and European Mention. In addition, for her pre-doctoral studies, she received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award for 2013/2014 from the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Julia Polak European Doctorate Award from the European Society for Biomaterials. In 2014, she obtained a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Xunta de Galicia and joined the Technical University of Munich to research the development of 3D-printed drug-releasing implants.

Upon returning to Spain, she worked in community pharmacy, balancing this activity with her studies in Human Nutrition and Dietetics at San Pablo CEU University. During this period, she began collaborating with researchers from the Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (Professors Gregorio Varela-Moreiras and Teresa Partearroyo). In September 2016, she joined San Pablo CEU University as a professor. Since then, her research has focused on the study of drug-nutrient interactions related to water, the effect of water consumption and fluid balance on body composition, the influence of nutritional status on auditory and cognitive function, as well as the analysis of the nutritional status of large populations, mainly children. To date, she has participated in eleven research projects (serving as the principal investigator for one of them) and has authored 23 publications in scientific journals (15 Q1 and 4 proceedings), 3 book chapters, 2 international patents, and several presentations at national and international conferences (Researcher ID U-7938-2017 and ORCID ID 0000-0003-2836-4642). Additionally, she has supervised numerous Bachelor's and Master's theses and currently co-supervises the doctoral thesis titled "Study of the effect of different drug groups on the hydration status of the elderly in the Community of Madrid" with Dr. Teresa Partearroyo Cediel. She has been accredited as an Associate Professor and Contracted Doctor Professor by the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) and has a six-year research period (2010-2015). She is currently a member of the USP-CEU Excellence Group "Nutrition for Life," ref: E02/0720, Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, San Pablo-CEU University, CEU Universities.