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Massimo Pettoello-Mantovani (born December 21, 1956) is a US medical researcher, pediatrician and university educator of Italian origin. Secretary General of the European Paediatric Association (EPA/UNEPSA).

Biography

Internationally known expert on Public Health Policy and Nutrition. He was born and grew up in Italy and received his basic medical degree from the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy, were he graduated maximum cum laude in 1983. He received his Clinical Doctorate in Pediatrics from the Universities of Turin and Naples and conducted his post-doctoral training in Microbiology and Clinical Mycology at the Catholic University of Sacred Hearth, A. Gemelli Research Institutes, in Rome. Since 1989 Dr. Massimo Pettoello-Mantovani worked continually at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, were he conducted several research projects related to pediatric infectious diseases. He received his training in retrovirology at NIH, in the Laboratories of Fort Frederick, Maryland led by Dr. Robert Gallo, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Nara. During the ’90 he was researcher in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA). Dr. Pettoello-Mantovani's research projects have been supported by several grants from major research agencies, including the US National Institute of Heath (NIH), Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA), the Italian National Research Council (CNR), the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) and the Italian Ministry of Health.

In 1994 he was awarded with the title of Outstanding Professor by the Scientific Committee of the US Department of Justice and was given the US citizenship for his scientific achievements.

From 1998 he was in charged with the supervision of the Laboratory of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, New York and in 1999 he has been co-Director of Biohazard Core Section in the Center for AIDS Research at AECOM. In 2003 he become Director of the Institute of Pediatrics and Residency Program at the University of Foggia, Italy. In 2009 was elected Secretary General of the European Paediatric Association, the Society which represent the National Pediatric Societies of over 50 European Countries.

Dr. Pettoello-Mantovani's main research interests are generally in Infectious Diseases, particularly in AIDS/HIV-1 epidemic and related pathologies. He is author and co-author of a large number of papers published in major scientific journals. His primary research achievements are related to his studies on opportunistic infectious agents and their metabolic products (natural toxins and killer toxins). He gave a major contribution to the design of animal models currently used to perform in vivo physiology and immunology studies and to test vaccines and novel drug therapies in AIDS/HIV, including the Thy/Liv SCID-hu mice model.

Dr. Pettoello-Mantovani has been the Executive president of FoSTER, the Foundation for Science Technology Education and Research, a New York based not-for-profit institution dedicated to promote the relations between the US and Italy in the area of Science and Technology established by the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò of the New York University. He is President of the Executive committee of the “World Health Policy Forum”, an international Swiss-German based Foundation dedicated to the protection and improvement of human health and to the design of public health policies.