Professor Yolanda Picó passed away in Valencia, at the age of 61, on Tuesday 11 February 2025. Professor Picó, born on 30 January 1964 in Valencia, was Professor at the University of Valencia (UV) and researcher at the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE - CSIC, UV, GVA). Since 2007, she has been the director of the research group on Food and Environmental Security (SAMA-UV), recognised as a research group of excellence by the Generalitat Valenciana. Professor Picó obtained a degree in Pharmacy from the UV in 1988, and later a PhD in the same speciality (Pharmacy) also at the UV in 1992 (Extraordinary Doctorate Award, 1993). His postdoctoral training was carried out at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (1992) and at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ (1996).
A fundamental axis in Yolanda Picó's scientific career has been the study of aspects related to environmental sustainability and the preservation of natural capital and ecosystem services from different perspectives. Throughout her career, and as a fundamental aspect of her research, she has considered the social and gender perspective. Its second line of action has focused on environmental and food security with the aim of making a significant contribution to improving the environment and the health of the population. All this has been done through the development of selective, specific and innovative analysis methods for both traditional pollutants and the so-called ‘emerging’ pollutants and their metabolites in different environmental matrices, being pioneers in many aspects. All of this has been carried out in the field of welfare and the preservation of human health, and the work has been carried out at international level. In the field of health sciences, he has worked on the identification of the molecular structure of unknown metabolites and degradation compounds, emerging contamination, as well as on the quantification and screening of unexpected substances in general, etc. in addition to the development of tools and methods to increase knowledge of their impact, including epidemiology based on wastewater analysis.
Professor Yolanda Picó had a very relevant academic impact, with more than 400 publications in scientific journals, more than 19400 citations, an H index of 80 (February 2025) and an i10 index of 309 in Google Scholar. She has authored more than 20 book chapters, supervised 13 doctoral theses, presented more than 500 communications at national and international conferences, including more than 20 invited lectures. Professor Picó participated in numerous advisory committees and was an evaluator in the 5th, 6th and 7th Framework Programmes of the European Union and Horizon 2020. She was associate editor of the journals Science of the Total Environment since 2015, Journal of Environmental Management since 2017 and Data in Brief from 2020 to present day, and participated in the editorial board of prestigious scientific journals such as Journal of Chromatography A, Food Additives & Contaminants, Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring and Management, and was a member of several scientific expert panels of international bodies such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Joint Program Initiative (JPI)-Water, the Institut Català de la Recerca de l'Aigüa (ICRA), etc. She was a member of scientific societies such as the Spanish Society of Chromatography and Related Techniques (SECyTA) of which she was Vice President (2005-2016), Spanish Society of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM), the International Association of Environmental Analytical Chemistry (IAEAC) and the European Society of Separation Sciences (ESSS) and the European Geophysical Union, among others. She has also been included in the Stanford University ‘Ranking’, which includes the 2% of the world's most influential scientists and scientists.
We would like to highlight her activity as a book editor. Specifically three of them, two published in the prestigious Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry series of Elsevier in 2008 (volume 51), and 2015 (volume 68) with titles: Food Contamination and Residue Analysis and Advanced Mass Spectrometry for Food Safety and Quality, respectively. In January 2025 he published the book ‘Sample Handling and Trace Analysis of Pollutants’ of 800 pages and 24 chapters, demonstrating his capacity for work and scientific excellence even in the most difficult moments.
As an international award, it is worth mentioning the work led by Yolanda and carried out in the framework of the project with King Saud University: ‘Contaminants and Microplastics in Plants, Vegetables, Water and Soil. Use of Plants for Biofuel Production’ and published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, which in 2023 was awarded the King Hamad Prize for Agricultural Development in the category of Best Agricultural Research & Studies, Bahrain.
Today we want to honour and pay tribute to the memory and legacy of Professor Yolanda Picó, whom we will always remember for her contagious optimism (her favourite phrase ‘don't worry’), her endless positivity (even the worst written abstracts seemed to her ‘that just needed a spin’), her eagerness to deepen knowledge, her tireless activity and for her eagerness to respond to the countless emails she always had. And in essence, for her great heart and kindness that will ensure that we will always remember her with affection, as she deserves.
Julian Campo, Vicente Andreu y Damiá Barceló
17 February 2025
CIDE Communication
