Director
Prof. Maria Rita Gismondo holds degrees in Biology and in Medicine and Surgery at University of Catania, as well as a Specialization in Microbiology and Virology.
She is associate Professor of Microbiology since 1987 – first at the’ Institute of Microbiology, Dental School, University of Catania, then at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Milan. Moreover, she is the Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology, Virology and Bioemergencies (CLIMVIB) at L. Sacco University Hospital since 1995, including the BSL 4 facility which is a national reference laboratory for pandemics and bioterrorism.
She has published over 237 scientific papers and she is member of several scientific international societies. Also, she is responsible of the bioemergency plan for L. Sacco University Hospital.
Prof. Gismondo has years of experience in project management at international level.
She has implemented, both as Team Leader and as expert, different projects of the European Commission and United Nations on topics involving bio-threats (biorisk, biosafety, biosecurity, biohazardous waste management). In this framework, she has offered her expertise and she has been involved in activities like training courses, workshops, seminars and field missions as well as laboratory risk assessment, need and gap analysis.