President
Dr. Marco MAFRICI is an accomplished ophthalmologist with 17 years of experience. He received his medical degree from University Sapienza of Rome and became board certified in ophthalmology in 2011.
In 2015, he earned a PhD in innovative technologies in translational medicine from University Sapienza of Rome.He then worked as an “Assistant des Hôpitaux Universitaire” at the Hotel DIEU hospital of Nantes University in France, where he specialized in medical retina, anterior segment surgery, and vitreoretinal surgery. Dr. Mafrici published multiple articles in scientific journals and presented abstracts at international congresses. He is a member of the French Society of Ophthalmology and the Italian Society of Ophthalmology. Currently, he works at the Ales-Cevennes hospital center’s ophthalmology center in the GARD department, France, where he focuses on treating macular and retinal pathologies and performing anterior and posterior segment eye surgery.
Vice President
Vice President of Foreign Affairs
Dr. Lorenzo Gitto is a forensic pathologist with dual board certifications in Legal Medicine and Forensic Pathology (Italy) and Anatomic Pathology (USA). He earned his medical degree and completed his residency in Legal Medicine and Forensic Pathology at Sapienza University of Rome. In 2018, he completed a residency in Anatomic Pathology at SUNY Upstate Medical University, United States. He is currently employed at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Gitto is a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners, American College of Pathologists, and Chicago Medical Society. Dr. Gitto has published numerous articles and book chapters on forensic and anatomic pathology and received several awards during his research career. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and serves as a guest professor of forensic pathology in various medical courses.
Secretary
Dr. Giorgio Rajani earned his medical degree from University Sapienza of Rome, Italy, and became board certified in Anesthesia and Intensive Care in 2021.
During the COVID pandemic in 2020, he was appointed as a consultant at Umberto I hospital, focusing on intensive care, neurosurgery, and maxillofacial surgery. In 2022, he received an anesthesia and intensive care fellowship to advance his training in France. He now works at CH François Mitterrand in Pau as the lead anesthetist for loco-regional anesthesia and coordinator for thoracic and vascular surgery.
Treasurer
Dr Spadaccio obtained his medical degree in 2006 at University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (Pittsburgh,PA,USA) working in tissue engineering and stem cells therapy in cardiovascular disease. He obtained a PhD degree in biomaterials science in 2010 as a co-joined effort at University La Sapienza of Rome and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in USA. He became board certified in cardiovascular surgery in Italy and had further training in Belgium and UK where he obtained the equivalent title of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgery in Cardio Thoracic Surgery.
He has been then awarded with the American Association of Thoracic Surgery aortic surgery fellowship to pursue specific training in the surgical treatment of aortic disease with world-renown experts in this field. He spent 6 months in Beijing, China, under the guidance of Prof Sun for major arch surgery and further 6 months in Belgium where he developed expertise in aortic root surgery and in innovative techniques of aortic valve repair. He then completed a clinical fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School where he further achieved experience in heart and lung transplantation.
He was then offered a staff job at Mayo Clinic Rochester, where he currently serves as Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and is clinically active in both heart/lung transplant and aortic surgery. He is deeply involved in academic activities having secured research funds with a solid track record of scientific publications (>190 peer reviewed articles H index 29). His area of interest is translational and regenerative medicine and clinical outcome research in cardiothoracic surgery.
He has developed innovative models for high-fidelity simulation in cardiac surgery to assist training in this specialty and he is currently Director of the Cardiac Simulation Lab at the Procedural Skill Mastery Lab at Mayo Clinic.He has been recently elected member of the Working Group of Cardiovascular Surgery at the European Society of Cardiology where he participate to the establishment of the European guidelines for the treatment of cardiovascular disease
