My research focuses on mathematically modeling clinically relevant infectious diseases from complementary epidemiological and immunological perspectives. I develop deterministic and stochastic models that integrate cohort and surveillance data with behavioral and environmental factors to identify the primary determinants of disease spread, explain past epidemic trajectories, and generate short- to mid-term forecasts of epidemic timing and severity to inform decision-making. Additionally, I apply statistical methods to humoral and cellular immune response data to characterize infection- and vaccine-induced immunity, identify determinants of these responses, understand correlates of protection and variant immune escape, and estimate vaccine effectiveness.
Short CV
2025–present: Assistant Professor (Lecturer) at the Department of Physics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).
2024–2025: Postdoctoral research contract, Malaria Immunology Group, Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal).
2022–2024: Postdoctoral research contract, Computational Biology and Complex Systems Group, UPC.
2018–2025: Adjunct Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, UPC.
2014–2019: Ph.D. in Environment, FI Fellow, PhD thesis title: “Population range expansions, with mathematical applications to interacting systems and ancient human genetics”, University of Girona.
2012–2014: M.Sc. in Nuclear Physics, University of Barcelona.
2007–2012: B.Sc. in Physics, University of Barcelona.
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Mathematical modeling of SARS-CoV-2 variant substitutions in European countries: transmission dynamics and epidemiological insightsLopez de Rioja, V.; Perramon, A.; Alonso, S.; Andrés, C.; Antón, A.; Bordoy, A.; Càmara, J.; Cardona, P.J.; Català, M.; Lopez, D.; Martí, S.; Martró, E.; Saludes, V.; Prats, C.; Alvarez-Lacalle, E.Frontiers in public health
12, (2024)
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Country-report pattern corrections of new cases allow accurate 2-week predictions of COVID-19 evolution with the Gompertz modelVillanueva, M.; Conesa, D.; Català, M.; Perramon, A.; Lopez de Rioja, V.; Lopez, D.; Alonso, S.; Cardona, P.J.; Prats, C.; Alvarez-Lacalle, E.; López, M.; Molinuevo, D.; Montañola, C.Scientific reports
14, 10775 (2024)
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Severity of Omicron subvariants and vaccine impact in Catalonia, SpainLopez de Rioja, V.; Basile, L.; Perramon, A.; Martinez-Solanas, È.; Lopez, D.; Medina-Maestro, S.; Coma, E.; Fina, F.; Prats, C.; Mendioroz, J.; Alvarez-Lacalle, E.Vaccines
12, 466 (2024)
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Introduction of nirsevimab in Catalonia, Spain: description of the incidence of bronchiolitis and respiratory syncytial virus in the 2023/2024 seasonPerramon, A.; Lopez de Rioja, V.; Coma, E.; Hermosilla, E.; Fina, F.; Martínez-Marcos, M.; Mendioroz, J.; Cabezas, C.; Montañola-Sales, C.; Prats, C.; Soriano-Arandes, A.European journal of pediatrics
183, 5181-5189 (2024)
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A semi-empirical risk panel to monitor epidemics: multi-faceted tool to assist healthcare and public health professionalsPerramon, A.; Bravo, M.; Lopez de Rioja, V.; Català, M.; Alonso, S.; Alvarez-Lacalle, E.; Lopez, D.; Soriano-Arandes, A.; Prats, C.Frontiers in public health
11, 1307425 (2024)
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DNMR measurements of an asymmetric odd liquid crystal dimer: determination of the intramolecular angle and the degree of order of the two rigid coresSebastian, N.; Zupancic, B.; Lopez, D.; Salud, J.; Lopez de Rioja, V.; Levit, R.; de la Fuente, M.; Ros, M.; Berart, S.; B. Robles-HernándezPhysical chemistry chemical physics
25, 2486-2497 (2023)
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Unraveling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hospital burden of respiratory syncytial virusPerramon, A.; Lopez de Rioja, V.; Montañola-Sales, C.; Vila, J.; Antón, A.; Piñana, M.; Soler-Palacín, P.; Prats, C.; Soriano-Arandes, A.; Creus, A.; Andrés, C.; Lera, E.; Wörner, N.; Balcells, J.Pediatric pulmonology
58, 2979-2982 (2023)
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