Vivi Gkiata is a PhD candidate at FAME Lab. Her research focuses on the effects of heat exposure on thermoregulation in clinical populations, particularly individuals with type 2 diabetes. She contributes to the group’s research projects and, as the laboratory manager, supports safety, training, and the coordination of research activities.
Vivi Gkiata is a nurse with a background in clinical research, particularly in studies involving patients with diabetes. She is a PhD candidate in Environmental Physiology, currently researching how heat stress affects human health and thermoregulation, with a particularly focus on individuals with type 2 diabetes.
After completing her BSc in Nursing at the University of Peloponnese, Vivi Gkiata earned her MSc in “Exercise and Health” from the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science at the University of Thessaly. She is currently a PhD candidate in Environmental Physiology at the FAME Laboratory, University of Thessaly, where her research focuses on the effects of heat exposure on health and thermoregulation in vulnerable populations, particularly individuals with type 2 diabetes.
As the Laboratory Manager and member of the FAME Lab team, she has participated in several European and internationally funded research studies. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed scientific articles. She actively supports research design, data collection, safety supervision, and equipment training and her work focuses on translating physiological research into strategies that enhance human health under environmental stress and promote climate resilience among vulnerable populations.
Vivi holds a Good Clinical Practice (GCP) certification, ensuring adherence to the highest ethical and methodological standards in human research. In addition to her research activities, she is actively involved in teaching, serving as a teaching assistant in «Basic and Applied Physiology» lectures and is responsible for organizing and delivering the laboratory sessions of the course.
1. Carrillo AE, Dinas PC, Gkiata P, Ferri AR, Kenny GP, Koutedakis Y, Jamurtas AZ, Metsios GS, Flouris AD. An Exploratory Investigation of Heart Rate Variability in Response to Exercise Training and Detraining in Young and Middle-Aged Men. Biology (Basel). 2025 Jun 30;14(7):794. doi: 10.3390/biology14070794. PMID: 40723353; PMCID: PMC12292771.
2. Vliora M, McCormick JJ, King KE, Gkiata P, Kaltsatou A, Flouris AD, Kenny GP. Brief extreme passive heat exposure leads to elevated biomarkers of systemic inflammation and acute kidney injury in older vs young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2025 Jun 23. doi: 10.1007/s00421-025-05827-w. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40549207.
3. Leonidas G. Ioannou, Lydia Tsoutsoubi, Paraskevi Gkiata, Harry A. Brown, Julien D. Periard, Igor B. Mekjavic, Glen P. Kenny, Lars Nybo, Andreas D. Flouris. (2023). Effect of sportswear on performance and physiological heat strain during prolonged running in moderately hot conditions. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. 2024;34:e14520 https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14520
4. Eirini K Kydonaki, Laura Freitas, Henrique Reguengo, Carlos Raposo Simón, Ana R Bastos, Emanuel M Fernandes, Raphaël F Canadas, Joaquim M Oliveira, Vitor M Correlo, Rui L Reis, Maria Vliora, Paraskevi Gkiata, Yiannis Koutedakis, Georgia Ntina, Rui Pinto, Andres E Carrillo, Franklim Marques, Tânia Amorim. (2022). Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Agents versus Bovine Colostrum Supplementation for the Management of Bone Health Using an Osteoporosis-Induced Rat Model. Nutrients 2022 Jul 11;14(14):2837. doi: 10.3390/nu14142837.
5. Ioannou L.G., Mantzios K., Tsoutsoubi L., Nintou E., Vliora M., Gkiata P., Dallas C.N., Gkikas G., Agaliotis G., Sfakianakis K., Kapnia A.K., Testa D.J., Amorim T., Dinas P.C., Mayor T.S., Gao C., Nybo L., Flouris A.D. (2021). Occupational heat stress: multi-country observations and interventions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; 18(12): 6303
6. Dinas P.C., Nintou E., Vliora M., Pravednikova A.E., Sakellariou P., Witkowicz A., Kachaev Z.M., Kerchev V.V., Larina S.N., Cotton J., Kowalska A., Gkiata P., Bargiota A., Khachatryan Z.A., Hovhannisyan A.A., Antonosyan M.A., Margaryan S., Partyka A., Bogdanski P., Szulinska M., Kregielska-Narozna M., Czepczyński R., Ruchała M., Tomkiewicz A., Yepiskoposyan L., Karabon L., Shidlovskii Y., Metsios G.S., Flouris A.D. (2022). Prevalence of uncoupling protein one genetic polymorphisms and their relationship with cardiovascular and metabolic health. PLoS One; 17(4): e0266386
7. Martin-Aragon, S.; Bermejo-Bescós, P.; Benedí, J.; Raposo, C.; Marques, F.; Kydonaki, E.K.; Gkiata, P.; Koutedakis, Y.; Ntina, G.; Carrillo, A.E.; Amorim, T. A Neuroprotective Bovine Colostrum Attenuates Apoptosis in Dexamethasone-Treated MC3T3-E1 Osteoblastic Cells. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 10195. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms221910195
8. Ziaka, S., Amorim, T., Vliora, M., Gkiata, P., Mantzios, K., Ntina, G., Kydonaki, E.K., Gkizlis, V. and Koutedakis, Y. (2021) Nutraceutical Supplementation Based on Colostrum as Osteoporosis Treatment: A Pilot Study. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 12, 659-669. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2021.127049
9. Youssef A., Colon J., Mantzios K., Gkiata P., Sotto Mayor T., Flouris A.D., De Bruyne G., Aerts J.M. (2019). Towards model-based real-time monitoring of cyclist thermal comfort: smart helmet concept and prototype. Applied Sciences; 9(15): 3170. IF: 2.217
10. Sofia Zyga, Colin A Hutchison, Andrea Paola Rojas Gil, Georgia Christopoulou, Stephanie Stringer, Paraskevi Giata and Maria Malliarou. Inflammation and Endothelial Dysfunction in Cardiovascular Disease in Patients with the Initiation and Propagation of Chronic Kidney Disease. British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research 4(13): 2568-2580, 2014
