Biography

I was born in 1980, in a little town in the South of Tuscany, Italy. In July 2005, before the age of 25, I graduated with honours in Medicine at the University of Siena. While writing my thesis, in Pharmacology, I acquired basic laboratory skills, became familiar with animal handling, drug administration, and some molecular biology techniques. After my degree, I was granted a fellowship from the University of Siena. In 2006, I moved to the University of Florence, to attend training in Clinical Pharmacology, which I completed with honours in 2009. In 2007, I obtained a master’s degree in Drug Development and Pharmaceutical Medicine, University of Pisa.

Following my degree, I acquired extensive expertise in clinical research and practice. From 2007 to 2016, I’ve taught at University courses and tutored several students for thesis preparation or during residency in Clinical Pharmacology. Since 2007, I've been a consultant to Careggi University Hospital Ethics Committee (I reviewed more than 6,000 clinical studies) and to clinical investigators for methodological issues. Since 2011, I’ve held my own surgery at the Headache Centre of Careggi Hospital. Though limited, my skills in preclinical research contributed to my research group's findings in the field of herbalism and headache. In 2013, the Italian Society for the Study of Headaches (SISC) awarded me the “Franco Michele Puca Award” and, in 2018, the Italian Ministry of Health granted a project of mine with 275,000.00 euro. During my residency I had brief experiences abroad (EACPT Summer School, Spain, 2008; University of Odense, Denmark, 2009), in 2015-2016 I was a research fellow at Walther Straub Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology at LMU Munich, and in 2018-2020 I attended a Master for Headache Disorders at the University of Copenhagen. Health Ministry.

Since July 2016, I have been the coordinator of Scientific Secretariat of Careggi Hospital and Area Vasta Centro - Tuscany Region Ethics Committee for clinical studies and since March 2017, I have been the Medical Director of the Careggi University Hospital for Phase 1 clinical trials. In April 2017, I got habilitation for professorship (Associate Professor) in Pharmacology.

In 2022, I moved from academia to Pfizer, where I am still working as a Medical Affair Scientist in Rare Disease, being involved in data generation for different therapeutic areas including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Sickle Cell Disease.