Montse Fernández Prieto
Dr Montse Fernández-Prieto is a senior researcher at the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostela (IDIS) and works at CIMUS, University of Santiago de Compostela. Her research focuses on the neuropsychological and genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), integrating deep phenotypic characterisation with high-resolution genomic data within a precision medicine framework.
She has contributed to national and international projects aimed at identifying rare genetic variants, dissecting the genetic architecture of ASD, and integrating genomic, clinical and cognitive data. Her work increasingly centres on independent research lines in deep phenotyping, predictive modelling and neurodevelopmental genetics, with a particular emphasis on clinical heterogeneity, sex differences and social camouflaging as modulators of neuropsychiatric risk.
Dr Fernández-Prieto is currently involved in several major projects. She leads, as Principal Investigator, MAG-SUDOE (2025–2028), an Interreg Sudoe initiative focused on implementing structured genetic counselling mentorship programmes across Spain, France and Portugal to improve clinical genetics services and professional training. She is also a co-investigator in SmartOmics (2025–2028), a large-scale project on suicide prevention that integrates digital phenotyping and pharmacogenomics within a precision medicine framework. In addition, she plays a key role as Principal Investigator of the Galician node in the ESTEA cohort (2022–2025), which aims to characterise genetic and molecular variation in ASD and develop algorithms for diagnosis and therapeutic stratification.
Her research has consistently emphasised multidimensional phenotypic assessment—spanning clinical, cognitive, sensory and emotional domains—together with the analysis of rare variants and polygenic risk, and the application of machine learning techniques for patient stratification and predictive modelling in mental health.
She is a member of CIBERER, AETAPI and the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG), actively participating in multidisciplinary networks and reinforcing the translational dimension of her research through collaboration with clinical teams, including those linked to CIBERSAM.
More recently, her contribution to the SmartOmics project has supported the development of a new research line focused on neurocognitive, psychosocial and genetic risk factors for suicidal behaviour in ASD, using advanced predictive modelling approaches.
Overall, Dr Fernández-Prieto’s career reflects a clear progression towards independent research leadership in neurodevelopmental genetics, with strong international integration, solid methodological expertise and a focus on clinically translatable, sex-sensitive precision medicine.