Claudia Carricarte Naranjo
About me
Claudia Carricarte Naranjo is a Cuban biologist and early-career Associate Professor at the University of Havana, whose research systematically investigates heart rate variability (HRV) as a non-invasive digital biomarker in Parkinson's disease. Her published work explores how HRV dynamics reflect autonomic dysfunction, aid in characterizing non-motor symptom profiles, and contribute to distinguishing between genetic subtypes, with the goal of establishing a robust methodological framework for future personalized autonomic management strategies. She has been honored to receive competitive travel awards to support her research dissemination from the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS), and the Spanish Society for Neuroscience (SENC). She has further advanced her expertise through prestigious training scholarships sponsored by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the University of Pisa, enabling her participation in specialized international summer schools.
Claudia Carricarte Naranjo is a Cuban biologist and early-career Associate Professor at the University of Havana, whose research systematically investigates heart rate variability (HRV) as a non-invasive digital biomarker in Parkinson's disease. Her published work explores how HRV dynamics reflect autonomic dysfunction, aid in characterizing non-motor symptom profiles, and contribute to distinguishing between genetic subtypes, with the goal of establishing a robust methodological framework for future personalized autonomic management strategies. She has been honored to receive competitive travel awards to support her research dissemination from the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS), and the Spanish Society for Neuroscience (SENC). She has further advanced her expertise through prestigious training scholarships sponsored by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the University of Pisa, enabling her participation in specialized international summer schools.
Extended BIO
Claudia Carricarte Naranjo is an Associate Professor in the Computing Group at the School of Biology, University of Havana. Her research integrates physiology with data science, applying advanced computational, statistical, and signal-processing techniques to elucidate the mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Carricarte has built her academic career at the University of Havana. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Gold Title as the Most Outstanding Graduate in Biology (2010), subsequently advancing from Trainee (2010) to Instructor (2013), Assistant Professor (2018), and now Associate Professor (2025). She earned both her M.Sc. in Animal Physiology (2015) and her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (2025) from the same institution, demonstrating a deep and sustained commitment to her field.
A central focus of her work involves applying heart rate variability (HRV) and novel entropy-based analyses to study autonomic dysfunction. She actively investigates the connections between autonomic modulation, cognitive impairment, and emotional experience in Parkinson’s disease (PD). She has co-authored studies characterizing cardiac autonomic profiles in PD and LRRK2 mutation carriers, with publications in journals such as Clinical Autonomic Research (2019, 2021, 2025) and PLOS ONE (2023). Her research scope also extends to applying data science to other biomedical challenges, such as cancer screening.
Her contributions have garnered recognition through awards from the International Organization of Psychophysiology World Congress and the University of Havana, as well as prestigious international travel grants and fellowships from organizations including the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS), the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS). These opportunities have fostered valuable learning and fruitful collaborations with researchers in Canada, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. Dr. Carricarte is an active member of several professional societies, including MDS, IEEE, the Cuban Neuroscience Society, and the Cuban Society of Chemistry.
Moving forward, her research continues to explore how computational analysis of physiological data can deepen our understanding of neurological conditions and improve their diagnosis and monitoring.
Degrees:
Carricarte Naranjo C, C Marras, NP Visanji, DJ Cornforth, L Sanchez-Rodriguez, B Schüle, SM Goldman, M Estévez, PK Stein, AE Lang, HF Jelinek, A Machado (2025). Heartbeat signature for predicting motor and non-motor involvement among nonparkinsonian LRRK2 G2019S mutation carriers. Clin Auton Res DOI: 10.1007/s10286-024-01104-6
Carricarte Naranjo C, C Sánchez Luaces, I Pedroso Ibáñez, A Machado, H Sahli, MA Bobes (2023). Beyond shallow feelings of complex affect: Non-motor correlates of subjective emotional experience in Parkinson's disease. PLOS ONE 18(2): e0281959 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281959
Carricarte Naranjo C, C Marras, NP Visanji, DJ Cornforth, L Sanchez-Rodriguez, B Schüle, SM Goldman, M Estevez, PK Stein, AE Lang, HF Jelinek, A Machado (2021). Short‑term deceleration capacity of heart rate: A sensitive marker of cardiac autonomic dysfunction in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. Clin Auton Res 31, 729–736 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10286-021-00815-
4
Carricarte Naranjo C, C Marras, NP Visanji, DJ Cornforth, L Sanchez-Rodriguez, B Schüle, SM Goldman, M Estevez, PK Stein, AE Lang, HF Jelinek, A Machado (2019). Increased markers of cardiac vagal activity in leucine‑rich repeat kinase 2‑associated Parkinson’s disease. Clin Auton Res 29(6): 603-614 DOI: 10.1007/s10286-019-00632-w
Estévez-Báez M, C Carricarte-Naranjo, JD Jas-García, E Rodríguez-Ríos, C Machado, J Montes-Brown, G Leisman, A Schiavi, A Machado-García, C Sánchez Luaces, and E Arrufat Pié (2018). Influence of heart rate, age, and gender on heart rate variability in adolescents and young adults. Adv Exp Med Biol DOI: 10.1007/5584_2018_292
Estévez M, C Machado, J Montes-Brown, J Jas-García, G Leisman, A Schiavi, A Machado-García, C Carricarte-Naranjo, E Carmeli (2017). Very High Frequency Oscillations of Heart Rate Variability in Healthy Humans and in Patients with Cardiovascular Autonomic Neuropathy. Adv Exp Med Biol DOI: 10.1007/5584_2018_154
Carricarte C, L Sanchez-Rodriguez, M Brown, M Estévez, A Machado (2017). Permutation entropy analysis of heart rate variability for the assessment of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in type 1 diabetes mellitus. Comput Biol Med 86, 90-97 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2017.05.003
Estévez-Báez M, C Machado, G Leisman, M Brown-Martínez, JD Jas-García, R Melillo; J Montes-Brown, A Machado-García, C Carricarte-Naranjo (2015). A procedure to correct the effect of heart rate on heart rate variability indices: description and assessment. Int J Disabil Hum Dev DOI: 10.1515/ijdhd-2015-0014
Carricarte C, J Montes-Brown, M Rodríguez, A Machado, M Estévez (2012). Multiple regression analysis applied to heart rate variability study: a methodological approach. Funct Neurol Rehabil Ergon 2(2): 97-103
Montes-Brown J, A Machado, M Estévez, C Carricarte, L Velázquez-Pérez (2011). Autonomic dysfunction in presymptomatic spinocerebellar ataxia type-2. Acta Neurol Scand 125: 24-29 DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2011.01494.x
Conference papers
Carricarte Naranjo C, C Marras, NP Visanji, DJ Cornforth, L Sanchez-Rodriguez, B Schüle, SM Goldman, M Estevez, PK Stein, AE Lang, HF Jelinek, A Machado (2020). Heart rate variability biomarkers of leucine-rich repeat kinase 2-associated Parkinson's disease. Paper presented to the 11th European Study Group on Cardiovascular Oscillations (ESGCO). Pisa, Italy. pp. 1-2, DOI: 10.1109/ESGCO49734.2020.9158194
Carricarte-Naranjo C, DJ Cornforth, LM Sanchez-Rodriguez, M Brown, M Estévez, A Machado and HF Jelinek (2017). Rényi and permutation entropy analysis for assessment of cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Paper presented to the European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference (EMBEC) and the Nordic-Baltic Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics (NBC). Tampere, Finland. In: Eskola, H., Väisänen, O., Viik, J., Hyttinen, J. (eds) EMBEC & NBC 2017. EMBEC NBC 2017 2017. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 65. Springer, Singapore. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5122-7_189
Sanchez-Rodriguez L, C Carricarte, A Machado, M Brown and M Estevez (2016). Permutation entropy analysis of heart rate variability for the assessment of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy. Paper presented to the Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Conference (CMBEC). Calgary, Alberta, Canada. CMBES Proc., vol 39, no 1