Pandemic: the past, present and future

Starting with the events over the past two years, what have we learned from the pandemic? How has it changed our society and our lives? What innovations put in place to address COVID-19 will have a positive impact on our future? What new frontiers of science have opened up and what policies need to be implemented to protect global health in the future? During this gathering we will try to answer some of these questions and draw some lessons learned for our future as a group.

Roberto Burioni is full professor of Microbiology and Virology, has a Ph.D. in Microbiological Sciences, is a Specialist in Clinical Immunology and Allergology. Born in Pesaro on 10 December 1962, he graduated in 1981 from "Raffaello" High School in Urbino, and in July 1987 from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome with a degree in Medicine and Surgery. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiological and Virological Sciences from the University of Genoa. He was a visiting student for two years at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania in Dr. Hilary Koprowski and Carlo Maria Croce’s laboratories. Since 1988 he has been a visting scientist at the Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of California, San Diego. Since 1991 he has been a visiting researcher at the Department of Immunology at Scripps Research Institute La Jolla, California, USA in Dr. Dennis R Burton’s laboratories. In November 1995 he began to work as a confirmed university researcher at the Policlinico Gemelli of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome; in 1999 he moved to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ancona, where from 2000 to 2004 he held the chair of Virology in the Faculty of Science by appointment. Since 2004, he has been serving at the Faculty of Medicine of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan, first as an associate professor, then as full professor of Microbiology and Virology. He is in charge of an immunological research laboratory aimed at the study of immune response against human pathogens, the development of drugs based on recombinant human monoclonal antibodies, and in the use of molecular tools for the early diagnosis of infectious diseases. He is the author of multiple scientific papers in international journals and has been a speaker at numerous international conferences. He holds international patents related to molecular immunology procedures, human monoclonal antibodies and immunological drugs. From 2010 to 2017, he was director of the Graduate School of Microbiology and Virology. Since 2016, he has been president of the Bachelor’s in Dental Hygiene programme.

Reservations for program appointments are mandatory and can be made online, subject to availability.