Monica Olivares
R&D Director Women and Infant Health Kerry Inc
Monica holds a degree in Pharmacy from Granda University and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She leads Kerry’s R&D strategy for Women’s and Infant Health, bringing more than 20 years of experience in functional ingredients, including human milk–derived probiotic strains, botanicals, and omega 3.
She is the author of more than 80 scientific publications and 8 patents. Her career has been strongly focused on developing functional ingredients that deliver meaningful health benefits for women and infants. Notable contributions include pioneering studies on the use of human milk derived probiotic strains for infant nutrition.
Seminars
Wednesday 10th June 2026
Unveiling the Research & Mechanisms of Action for Probiotics, Ensuring Infant Formula Safety
4:00 pm
- Strain characterization: Comprehensive genomic and phenotypic analyses to confirm the identity, stability, and safety of the strain
- Toxicity studies and animal models: predictive tools for evaluating strain safety prior to human studies. What is needed for a probiotic strain?
- Clinical studies, is growth evaluation during intervention enough? While appropriate weight and length gain confirm that the strain does not negatively impact infant development, comprehensive safety validation also requires monitoring other outcomes as gastrointestinal tolerance, infection incidence, and any adverse events
- Experience with regulatory authorities across major regions, including the FDA, China, Europe, and Australia
