Mercedes Gil-Lespinard holds a degree in Nutrition (University of the Latin-American Educational Centre (UCEL), Rosario, Argentina, 2015) and a Masters in Nutrition and Metabolism (University of Barcelona and Rovira i Virgili University (UB-URV), Catalonia, Spain, 2018).

After finishing her degree in Rosario, she worked for two years in clinical and community nutrition. Her working fields focused on both obesity and malnutrition in adults and children. She worked in a centre for malnourished children (Camino CPD n° 2, Rosario) as well as private practice. She moved to Tarragona in 2017 to study the inter-university MSc. in Nutrition and Metabolism (UB-URV). In 2018, she finished her Masters with a spell in the Endocrinology Unit at the University Hospital Joan 23 in Tarragona, Spain.

Looking to focus on research, in 2019 she contacted the Cancer Epidemiology Research Program (PREC) from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and the Institute of Biomedical Research from Bellvitge (IDIBELL). This institution supported her application to the pre-doctoral contract of research and healthcare training (PFIS), awarded by the Carlos III Health Institute, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain.

Since January 2020, she has worked as a pre-doctoral researcher in the Unit of Nutrition, Environment and Cancer (UNAC) at ICO as part of Dr Raul Zamora-Ros’ team. She is enrolled in the Food and Nutrition PhD Programme (UB). Currently, she works with the EPIC cohort to assess the influence of polyphenols in body weight change and to develop a dietary supplement as part of a randomized clinical trial; its efficacy over anthropometric, biochemical and inflammatory factors will be evaluated in weight-loss treatment for participants with morbid obesity at the University Hospital of Bellvitge.

She is also collaborating with other projects in PREC. From January to April she worked on the report ‘Spanish Children’s Flavonoid Intake’ and she is currently working on a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies on sweet beverage intake and cancer risk. She is also collaborating on a book chapter on food antioxidant capacity and providing support to master’s degree students that joined the team to work on their final projects.