Jéssica Luiz

I am interested in respiratory physiology applied to critical care. My research focuses on elucidating how functional residual capacity, lung inhomogeneity and dead space vary following lung recruitment manoeuvres. In parallel, we will investigate if and how oxygen consumption and cardiac output are impacted by routine critical care procedures and drug administration, with an special interest in analysing patients in shock.

Prior to commencing the DPhil, I completed a Master of Research programme in Biomedical Research at Imperial College London, acting within the Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care stream. During this period, I developed two research projects. The first one investigated how lipids contribute towards pain and inflammation in burn injury, being conducted under the supervision of Dr Istvan Nagy and Dr Elizabeth Brown. The second project aimed to elucidate the role of microvesicles in the pathophysiology COVID-19-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome in mechanically-ventilated critical patients, under the supervision of Professor Masao Takata and Dr Sanooj Soni. I was awarded the Faculty of Medicine Dean's Prize as the highest overall Distinction grade in my cohort (stream).

My clinical education started with my medical undergraduate degree at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (2015, Brazil), which was followed by a 2-year training programme in Internal Medicine and 3 years working as an Intensive Care Trust doctor.