I am an MD/Ph.D. and endocrinologist working in the genetics of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), type 2 diabetes (T2D), and associated phenotypes. I graduated from the U. La Sapienza of Rome with a degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1992 and Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism in 1998. I obtained my Ph.D. at the U. Tor Vergata of Rome in 2003. As a Rotary International Ambassador and NIH Training Fellow, I performed my research at the U. of Chicago (1995-1997) and as JDFI Fellow at Mass General Hospital (2000-2005). As an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, I taught/tutored Human Genetics of Complex Disorders, Endocrinology, and Chemistry and Cell Biology. As Assistant Professor in Medicine, Molecular & Cellular Physiology, and Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine (COM) M.S. Hershey Medical Center (2006-2013), I continued my research and was a Faculty Committee member of the Penn State U. Ph.D. Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Physiology, Genetics, Biomedical Sciences, and the MD/Ph.D. Program. At Penn State College of Medicine, I taught endocrinology, diabetes, and genetics of monogenic and complex disorders. I was an Adjunct Assistant Professor (2007-2008) and Associate Professor in Biology at Temple U.’s College of Science and Technology in Philadelphia (2008-2014). I am American Board Certified under the Special Candidacy Pathway in Internal Medicine (August 2013) and Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism (November 2014). I was an Associate Professor in Medicine at the U. of Florida, Jacksonville (2014-2015) and taught endocrinology and diabetes. I have been Adjunct Faculty and an Adjunct Professor in Public Health Sciences at Penn State COM (2014-today). I was an Associate Professor in Medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson U. and an Associate Member of the Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG) Program at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson U., and I taught at Internal Medicine Residents’ Conference and Endocrine Grand Rounds (2016-2020).
I am a Professor in Medicine and Chief and Medical Director of the Division of Endocrinology at CHI Health and Creighton U. Medical Center (2021-). At Creighton U. School of Medicine, I am the Endocrine-Block Medical Director and a member of the Internal Medicine Subspecialty Promotion Evaluation Committee (2021-). Since 2006, I have been working as an attending endocrinologist in each respective academic institution. Due to my expertise as an endocrinologist clinician-scientist in diabetes research and clinical care, the American Diabetes Association selected me to participate in the Diabetes Advocacy Call to Congress on Capitol Hill in 2018. My basic and clinical integrated human research program is translational and interdisciplinary. It focuses mainly on the genetics of the comorbidity of metabolic impairments with mental disorders. In addition, I have had an NIH-funded RO1 grant to study the genetic comorbidity of T2D and depression.