Maria Fernanda Villa Tamayo, PhD

University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology Ph.D. Candidate Maria Fernanda Villa Tamayo

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Email: mzu4ge@virginia.edu
Office: Center for Diabetes Technology
560 Ray C Hunt Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Education:
PhD in Systems Engineering, University of Virginia (US), 2025
MSc in Industrial Automation, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO), 2021
BSc in Control Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO), 2019

Professional Activities:
Maria Fernanda Villa Tamayo earned her PhD in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2025 as part of the Center for Diabetes Technology. Her doctoral work focused on the development and evaluation of personalized decision support systems for insulin therapy in type 1 diabetes, leveraging digital twin technologies. She also contributed to the design and testing of strategies for automated insulin delivery systems.

She joined the Center for Diabetes Technology as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in 2025. Her current work focuses on developing a type 1 diabetes simulator that captures real-world variability, while continuing to explore strategies that improve personalized treatment.

Personal Activities:
Outside of research, Maria enjoys playing tennis, reading, spending time outdoors, and painting.