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Dr. Belinda Hernández

Visiting Research Fellow (Pharmacology & Therapeutics)
      
Profile Photo

Dr. Belinda Hernández

Visiting Research Fellow (Pharmacology & Therapeutics)

 hernandb@tcd.ie

 


Dr Belinda Hernandez is a Senior Research Fellow and bio-informatician for TILDA (The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing) in Trinity College Dublin. Belinda"s current research interests are focused on using advanced statistical and machine learning methods to develop physiological and epigenetic biomarkers for healthy ageing and multimorbidity prevention. Previous to this, she was an Assistant Professor in Statistics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College Dublin where she developed proteomic and genomic biomarkers for various diseases such as prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease and arthritis. She holds a PhD in "Bayesian Machine Learning for Proteomic Discovery and Validation" from University College Dublin. Although focused primarily on biomarker development her research is multidisciplinary, and she has conducted comparative research of multimorbidity clusters and epigenetic markers of health outcomes across multiple international studies of ageing. She has also published research in a number of other areas including the investigation of high dimensional cardiovascular and neurovascular hemodynamic signals; the development of statistical machine learning methods as well as research in areas such as multisensory integration, frailty and cognition.
Project Title
 High Dimensional Forest Models for Genetic Performance Evaluation
From
22/2/17
To
22/2/19
Summary
Role Co-Applicant Awarded 135,000eur for the development and commercialisation of proprietary algorithms and software solutions for creating and improving genomic tests and breeding programmes for thoroughbred animals. This resulted in being awarded the "Venture Launch Start Up of the Year Award" for our commercialisaton venture Prolego Scientific.
Funding Agency
Enterprise Ireland
Programme
Commercialisation Fund
Project Title
 FRAILMatics: Mathematical research and big data analytics towards the development of the next generation of transdisciplinary diagnostics for the assessment of physiological vulnerability in older adults: challenge-based disruptive technology initiative
From
01/12/2019
To
01/12/2024
Summary
Role: Coapplicant, 1,200,000eur Summary: Increasing numbers of older people are living with frailty. Frailty is defined as dysregulation in multiple physiological systems andconsequent reduction in physiological reserve. A frail person is vulnerable to decompensate and experience adverse healthoutcomes in the face of stressors. The higher the number of physiological systems that are dysregulated, the less physiologicalreserve. Despite consensus in the concept, frailty operationalisations in clinical practice are limited and a universally accepteddiagnostic method does not exist. However, there is evidence that early recognition of frailty could prevent or delay adverseoutcomes. The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) has collected detailed information on real-time functioning ofphysiological systems, with and without challenge: neurological (choice reaction time, sustained attention to response task,cerebral blood flow before and after standing), cardiovascular (continuous blood pressure and heart rate, before and afterstanding), and locomotor (gait with and without cognitive challenges). For this research, TILDA will offer the opportunity to hostinfrastructure and capacity in mining, processing and modelling its largely unexplored complex and computationally expensive "bigdata". We aim to discover new frailty signals and models, validate them in clinical cohorts, and lead towards new diagnostic toolsto help tackle the ageing challenge.
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
Future Research Leader Award
Person Months
60
Project Title
 'Investigating novel biomarkers of cardiac arrhythmia and associated risk of stroke and heart failure
From
1/9/2020
To
1/3/2022
Summary
Role: Coapplicant Amount: 60,000 GBP
Funding Agency
Northern Ireland Chest
Programme
Heart & Stroke project grant
Person Months
18
Project Title
 Developing novel early physiological biomarkers of autonomic dysregulation contributing to mortality risk.
From
To
Summary
Role: PI Amount: $23328
Funding Agency
NIA
Project Title
 CLEC3B - a novel biomarker for heart failure: cohort evaluation and development of a point of care prototype
From
To
Summary
Role: Co-Applicant Amount: £85525
Funding Agency
Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke Project

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Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
Spanish Fluent Medium Fluent
Belinda Hernandez, Cathal McCrory, Rose Anne Kenny, Aisling O'Halloran, A Biomarker Signature Associated With Future Functional Decline And Outcomes On The Frailty-Disability Cascade, Age and Ageing, 53, (Supplement_4), Oxford University Press, 2024, ppafae178. 024 , Conference Paper, PUBLISHED  DOI  URL
A., Shirsath M., O'Connor J.D., Boyle R., Newman L., Knight S.P., Hernandez B., Whelan R., Meaney J.F., Kenny R.A., Slower speed of blood pressure recovery after standing is associated with accelerated brain aging: Evidence from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Cerebral Circulation - Cognition and Behavior, 6, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI  DOI
Belinda Hernández, Adam H Dyer, Ciaran Finucane, Bernardo Nipoti, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Richard Reilly, Rose Anne Kenny, The Impact of Type 2 Diabetes on Peripheral and Cerebral Haemodynamic Responses to Active Stand, The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
A Setti and B Hernández, RJ Hirst, OA Donoghue, RA Kenny, FN Newell, Susceptibility to the sound-induced flash illusion is associated with gait speed in a large sample of middle-aged and older adults, EXPERIMENTAL GERONTOLOGY, 174, (112113), 2023, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Céline De Looze, PhD, Wilby Williamson, PhD, Naiara Demnitz, PhD, Deirdre O'Connor, MPH, Belinda Hernández, PhD, Rose Anne Kenny, MD, Physical Function, An Adjunct to Brain Health Score for Phenotyping Cognitive Function Trajectories in Older Age: Findings From The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), The Journals of Gerontology: Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 2022, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
Kevin McCarthy, Eamon Laird, Aisling M. O"Halloran, Cathal Walsh, Martin Healy, Annette L. Fitzpatrick, James B. Walsh, Belinda Hernandez, Padraic Fallon, Anne Molloy, Rose Anne Kenny, Association between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of prevalent type 2 diabetes and incident prediabetes: A prospective cohort study using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), eClinical Medicine, 53, 2022, p101654 , Journal Article, PUBLISHED
De Looze C, Dehsarvi A, Suleyman N, Crosby L, Hernández B, Coen RF, Lawlor BA, Reilly RB., Structural Correlates of Overt Sentence Reading in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Mild-to-Moderate Alzheimer's Disease., Current Alzheimer research, 2022, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Orna A Donoghue, Belinda Hernandez, Matthew DL O"Connell, Rose Anne Kenny, Using Conditional Inference Forests to Examine Predictive Ability for Future Falls and Syncope in Older Adults: Results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 2022, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Mc Ardle A, Kwasnik A, Szenpetery A, Jones M, Hernandez B, Meenagh M, Parnell A, de Jager W, de Roock S, Fitzgerald O, Pennington S , Identification and Evaluation of Serum Protein Biomarkers Which Differentiate Psoriatic from Rheumatoid Arthritis., Arthritis & Rheumatology, 74, (1), 2022, p81 - 91, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Belinda Hernández, Siobhán Scarlett, Frank Moriarty, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Rose Anne Kenny, Richard Reilly, Investigation of the role of sleep and physical activity risk for chronic disease prevalence in older Irish adults, BMC Public Health, 2022, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
  

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Belinda Hernández, Donal Sexton, Frank Moriarty, Niall Cosgrave, Aisling O'Halloran, Christine McGarrigle, Siobhan Scarlett and Rose Anne Kenny, HIGH-RISK CATEGORIES FOR COVID-19 AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION BY COUNTY IN REPUBLIC OF IRELAND-EVIDENCE FROM THE TILDA STUDY, 2020, Report, PUBLISHED
Lorna Roe, Christine McGarrigle, Belinda Hernández, Aisling O'Halloran, Siobhan Scarlett, Mark Ward, Charles Normand, Rose Anne Kenny, PATTERNS IN HEALTHCARE UTILISATION: RESULTS FROM WAVE 5 OF THE IRISH LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON AGEING., 2020, Report, PUBLISHED
Kenny, R.A., Hernandez, B., O'Halloran, A., Moriarty, F., McGarrigle, C., TILDA report to inform demographics for over 50s in Ireland for COVID-19 crisis, Dublin, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, Trinity College Dublin, March, 2020, Report, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Finalist European Data Science and AI Awards 2018
Venture Launch Start Up of the Year Award (20,000eur) 2017