Staff Profile
Dr Gemma Lyall
Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science
- Address: Sport and Exercise Science
School of Biomedical, Nutritional and Sport Sciences
Faculty of Medical Sciences
Dame Margaret Barbour Building
Newcastle upon Tyne
After completing a BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Physiology, I undertook an MRes at the University of Leeds, investigating the interaction between physical activity, menopausal symptoms, and cardiovascular health in postmenopausal women. I continued at Leeds for my PhD, which explored how exercise-induced changes in blood flow influence vascular structure and function, and how these adaptations are affected by age and sex.
I went on to complete a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Leeds examining the role of the vasculature in heart failure. During this fellowship, I collaborated with researchers at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany) to investigate the efficacy of pharmacological therapies aimed at improving vascular and skeletal muscle health in individuals with heart failure.
Before joining Newcastle University in 2025, I was a Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at Leeds Beckett University.
My research focuses on using exercise as a therapeutic tool to prevent and rehabilitate damage to the cardiovascular system across a range of populations. I am particularly interested in female ageing, the impact of the menopausal transition on cardiovascular health, and the prevalence and mechanisms of heart failure in women.
My work combines physiological and biochemical techniques to study vascular function and adaptation, including in vivo ultrasound assessments (flow-mediated dilation, Doppler blood flow, arterial stiffness), cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and biochemical analyses such as ELISAs, quantitative PCR, cell culture, in vitro vascular myography, and western blotting.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5986-4845
I am module leader for:
SES2002 (U/G) - Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition
I am also the SES Academic for Employability.