Role
Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS Research at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
Bio
After graduating in Medicine and Surgery at the Sapienza University of Rome (1984), he specialized in Allergology and Clinical Immunology in 1987 and obtained a doctorate in Clinical Immunology at the University of Bari in 1991. From 1986 to 1995 he carried out research in Robert Gallo's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA .
In 1996, she returned to Italy to direct the AIDS Unit of the Virology Laboratory at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), and in 2005, she took over the leadership of the National Center for HIV/AIDS Research at the same institute. She coordinates national, European, and international scientific projects, developing important collaborations with the United States and developing countries, including through the Gates Foundation. She served as vice president of the National AIDS Commission of the Ministry of Health from 2006 to 2014 and as a member of the ERC Scientific Council from 2013 to 2016.
His scientific work focuses on the pathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection, with the aim of developing new preventive and therapeutic strategies. Pioneering studies on the Tat protein-based vaccine have led to clinical trials in Italy and South Africa with positive and encouraging results. He has also studied AIDS-related tumors, particularly Kaposi's sarcoma, highlighting the therapeutic potential of viral protease inhibitors.
She is the author of over 360 scientific publications in international journals, numerous patents, and is actively involved in editorial and peer review activities. H-index : 70.