Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford UK.
What inspired you towards neuroscience?
The mystery of the brain! In the late 90s, as a medical student in
my pre-clinical years, I was fascinated by how little we knew about how the
brain works. There was so much to discover. When I went on to my clinical
training and started seeing patients, I was struck by how different, and
special, neurological patients were. I had the feeling that some diseases affecting
the brain had the power to build a wall of incommunicability and estrangement
between the affected patient and the rest of the world. I wanted to understand
what that wall was, and I wanted to be able to knock it down.
Why stroke?
I have always been interested in blood circulation, and of course
cerebral circulation is even more fascinating as it is different from the rest
of the body. The brain is special even in the way it regulates its own
perfusion. From a clinical point of view, cerebrovascular diseases are largely
preventable and treatable, and I still feel the enthusiasm of being able to
make a difference for each individual patient, helping to prevent strokes or
offering acute-phase treatments.
What have been the highs so far?
Finding a non-invasive tool that allows me a glimpse into cerebral
haemodynamics, using ultrasound. This tool is called “Neurosonology”. I
discovered it in the late 90s and since then I have started from scratch a neurosonology
lab first in Italy (in Verona, where I worked for over 10 years) and now in Oxford,
UK.
What have been the lows?
When I started my training, I felt very frustrated by the nihilistic
attitude of some colleagues towards strokes patients, especially when compared
with the enthusiasm for acute coronary reperfusion and endovascular treatments.
Nearly twenty years later, we are finally getting there!
How do you balance work life with the needs of home life?
Working hard on both sides, and having great colleagues and a very
understanding and helpful family.
Who are your most important mentors and how did you find them?
I am indebted to many generous and clever people, whom I was lucky
enough to meet in my professional life. Among them, the neuroscientist who lead me
through the fascination of Neurology was Nicolo’ Rizzuto, head of Neurosciences
in Verona University Hospital when I was a medical student and a young doctor,
who nurtured and encouraged my interest for stroke and Neurosonology. He also
introduced me to Gian Paolo Anzola, who taught me so much, and has always
supported me with his advice and practical help. Peter Rothwell, whom I met during my PhD in
Neurosciences when he was just starting the Oxford Vascular study, has always
been a guide and reference for me in understanding and treating cerebrovascular
diseases. I have moved from Italy to Oxford to be able to work with him, and he
is a continuous source of inspiration. And lastly, my father, who is a cardiac
surgeon and an academic, to whom I have always turned in my professional life
when in doubt, and from whom I suspect I have inherited my interest in haemodynamics.
What are your most important collaborations and how have you built
them?
I have always worked with cardiologists, radiologists and vascular
surgeons. More recently, I have developed an interest in paediatric stroke and Sickle
Cell Disease, and new collaborations with Paediatric haematologists have
started. My research has always been very clinically oriented, and
collaborations in research have always grown around clinical questions.
