Dr. Yolanda M. Pacheco nstituto de la Grasa (IG-CSIC), Spain

Yolanda M. Pacheco is a translational biomedical researcher with over twenty years of experience in human immunology. After earning her degree in Pharmacy and a PhD in Health Sciences, she spent most of her scientific career at Virgen del Rocío University Hospital and the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS,... read moreSpain).

During that period, her research has focused on understanding the mechanisms that regulate immune competence and T-cell homeostasis in both health and disease. Throughout her career, she has combined clinical and experimental approaches to investigate immune dysfunction in HIV and other emerging viral infections, including COVID-19, as well as vaccine responses and immunosenescence.
Her work has contributed to advancing our understanding of thymic function in immune reconstitution and the long-term preservation of T-cell populations throughout adulthood, including its relationship with CD4/CD8 ratio recovery in people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy.

In 2026, she joined the Institute of Fat (IG-CSIC, Spain) to establish the Nutrition and Immune Homeostasis Research Group. Building on her previous research on T-cell homeostasis and immune recovery, her current work seeks to understand how nutritional and metabolic factors influence immune resilience and the maintenance of immune competence during ageing.