Dr. Tomás Herrera Valenzuela is an academic at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Santiago de Chile, a specialist in sports science and leader of a line of research that crosses sports performance with the health impact of martial arts and combat sports. With more than ten years of research experience and international collaborations with renowned researchers in the field, his work has recently been recognized in two bibliometric studies published in indexed scientific journals.
In the article “Contributors, Themes and Trends in Martial Arts and Combat Sports Research Indexed in Scopus and Web of Science: A Bibliometric Analysis”, his name is featured among the eight most productive authors in the world, in addition to a 2024 publication on taekwondo research, where he appears as the third researcher with the most publications globally.
This individual recognition has directly contributed to the positioning of the University of Santiago de Chile, which was highlighted as the second university in the world with the highest scientific production in taekwondo in the same study. All this is a reflexion of the impact of the work of the academic and his team on the international visibility of Usach research in the field of Martial Arts and Combat Sports.
“It is not common for this type of research to be made public or linked to decision-makers. I believe it is essential that these achievements transcend the academic sphere and also reach federations, ministries, and key players,” says the academic, who has collaborated with the High Performance Center in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and has been working since 2019 with the Chilean Olympic Wrestling Sports Federation.
He is currently leading a Dicyt Semilla project that evaluates the impact of adapted Taekwondo for the elderly, with positive results in functionality, balance, and metabolic efficiency. “We have observed that these types of programs generate even greater improvements than current standard public health recommendations, such as walking. They also have a high adherence rate because people feel motivated, learn new skills, and perceive that they are improving,” he explains.
In addition to the area of health, the Usach academic’s research aims to strengthen the link between science, sports, and public policy. From his experience, one of the great challenges is to reduce the gap between the knowledge generated in academia and its application in concrete programs and initiatives that benefit citizens. “Knowledge is often contained in scientific articles and fails to influence decision-makers. As a public university, we aspire to influence the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Health programs by promoting evidence-based interventions. Our mission is for this knowledge to impact people’s lives and the country’s sports development,” he says.
The academic further suggests the need to move towards greater articulation between universities, sports federations, and public institutions, so that sports and health policies incorporate scientifically validated research results. “We have solid evidence, not only on high-level performance, but also on how adapted martial arts can improve the functionality, well-being, and quality of life of populations such as the elderly. The challenge now is to translate that information into public action,” he emphasizes.