Postdoctoral Fellows and PhD Students

Dr. Gattoni is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She obtained her MS in exercise and health sciences from the University of Exeter (UK) and her Ph.D. in exercise physiology from the University of Kent (UK). Her PhD focused on investigating effects and mechanisms of cognitive fatigue and sleep deprivation in the context of exercise tolerance, with the aim of developing effective training strategies to improve exercise performance in athletes, military personnel and healthy populations.

Dr. Gattoni’s research interests include exercise intolerance, physical and cognitive fatigue, perception of effort, dyspnea, sleep, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), gas exchange kinetics.

Publications: Google Scholar, NIH Bibliography

Supported by: Pulmonary and Exercise Research Fund (PERF)

Dr. Girardi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He received a Ph.D. in human and exercise physiology from the University of Rome “Foro Italico” (Italy). His Ph.D. focused on understanding the mechanisms of exercise hyperpnea. After his Ph.D., Dr. Girardi worked as a Research Associate at the University of Rome “Foro Italico”, and then he moved to the University of Essex (UK) where he worked on modeling cardiorespiratory responses during exercise and managing and analyzing large epidemiologic datasets. His postdoctoral training focuses on investigating the mechanisms of exercise intolerance in clinical populations.

Dr. Girardi’s research interests include exercise intolerance, fatigue, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), exercise hyperpnea, dyspnea, quantitative analysis of alveolar gas exchange, pulmonary gas exchange kinetics, pulmonary function, and modeling cardiorespiratory responses.

Publications: Google Scholar, NIH Bibliography

Supported by: Pulmonary and Exercise Research Fund (PERF)

Jeff Moore is a doctoral student at the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and an adjunct lecturer at San Diego State University. He completed his Master’s degrees in Nutritional Sciences and Exercise Physiology at San Diego State University. During his Master’s program, he focused primarily on exercise and heat therapy interventions to improve indices of cardiometabolic health. His overarching interests are common and often preventable chronic diseases, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.

For his doctoral thesis project, Jeff is investigating exercise tolerance in the context of obesity, sex differences, and strength and endurance athletes using a cardiopulmonary exercise test modified to include novel measures of neuromuscular performance under his mentors, Drs. Carrie Ferguson and Harry Rossiter.

Publications: Google Scholar

Supported by: The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Rebeca is a PhD candidate at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar – Brazil), mentored by Dr. Audrey Borghi-Silva. Her research interests include evaluating pulmonary and physiological variables in response to exercise in patients with heart failure and COPD.
Rebeca received her BSc, PT in 2016 and her MS in Respiratory PT in 2018 from the São Paulo State University (UNESP). She has previously completed a six-month research internship at The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (2017-2018).

Currently, Rebeca is a member of the Cardiopulmonary Physiotherapy Laboratory (LACAP) at UFSCar, a fellow of the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES – Brazil), and a visiting research fellow at The Lundquist Institute.

Publications: Google Scholar

Profile: ORCID

Supported by: Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES – Brazil)

Nicholas B. Tiller (MRes, Ph.D.) is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Respiratory Medicine and Exercise Physiology where his explores the interplay among respiratory, cardiopulmonary, and mitochondrial function in health and disease. Dr Tiller is an associate editor for the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and a leading authority on the physiology and pathophysiology of extreme endurance exercise.

After completing his doctoral studies in respiratory mechanics during exercise (Brunel University London), Dr Tiller worked as a performance physiologist embedded within the United Kingdom Olympic performance program. Thereafter, he worked as an assistant and later associate professor in applied physiology, before moving to the Lundquist Institute. Tiller is a prominent science communicator. In addition to writing monthly columns for Ultra-Running Magazine and Skeptical Inquirer (the magazine for science and reason), he is a regular guest on science and critical thinking podcasts, and a presenter and speaker at national and international conferences. Tiller’s book, The Skeptic’s Guide to Sports Science, was named one of Book Authority’s “Best Sports Science Books Of All Time.”

Publications: PubMed

Profile: ORCID

Personal website: NBTiller.com

Supported by: Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP)