Ibarretxe Bilbao, Naroa

Naroa Ibarretxe Bilbao (Bilbao, 1982), BA in Psychology from the University of Deusto (2005) and PhD in Medicine from the University of Barcelona (2009). Specialises in neuroimaging and the neuropsychology of neurodegenerative diseases. For her doctoral thesis, carried out in the Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology of the University of Barcelona, she researched brain disorders using magnetic resonance imaging and their involvement in emotional and cognitive dysfunctions exhibited by patients with Parkinson’s disease. She was awarded the Lluis Barraquer i Bordas prize in 2010 after receiving her doctorate. She subsequently continued her specialisation as a postdoctoral researcher in the neurology department of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona within the Centre for Networked Research into Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED).

She is currently a lecturer and researcher at the University of Deusto, where she leads research related to cognitive rehabilitation, neuroimaging and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. This work is conducted within the team working on the neuropsychology of severe mental illnesses. She is also an associate lecturer in the Department of Principles and Methods of Psychology within the Faculty of Psychology and Education of the University of Deusto and teaches on the BA in Psychology and on the Clinical Neuropsychology doctorate and master’s programmes (course director of the latter).

She has completed residencies and is working on research projects with leading international centres, including the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Kessler Foundation and FMRIB (University of Oxford). Her work has yielded numerous results, such as participation in national and international congresses and publications in influential international scientific journals specialising in neurology, neuroimaging and neuroscience in general.

Naroa Ibarretxe is a young corresponding member of JAKIUNDE since November 2016.