Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., inducted into National Academy of Sciences of Italy
Italy’s National Academy of Sciences (Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL) has chosen Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, to be one of only two 2016 foreign fellows.
The Academy was founded as 'Società Italiana' (Italian Society) in 1782 in Verona by Antonio M. Lorgna, a mathematician and hydraulic engineer who invited the most outstanding scientists from every part of Italy to join the society.
Ferrari will be inducted into the academy during a May 5 ceremony in Italy, where he will lecture on nanomedicine and the use of transport oncophysics and multi-stage vectors. He and a team of investigators from the Houston Methodist Research Institute recently published a landmark study in Nature Biotechnology that may have transformed the treatment of metastatic triple negative breast cancer by creating the first drug to successfully eliminate lung metastases in mice. The second foreign fellow to join Ferrari is Douglas Wallace of the University of Pennsylvania.
As the leader of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Ferrari oversees all research and education programs. The HMRI houses more than 800 clinical protocols.
Ferrari is the founder of biomedical nano/micro-technology, especially in its applications to drug delivery, cell transplantation, implantable bioreactors, and other innovative therapeutic modalities. He served as special expert on nanotechnology at the National Cancer Institute in 2003-2005, providing leadership for the formulation, refinement, and approval of the NCI's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, currently the world's largest program in medical nanotechnology.
Ferrari has published more than 350 research papers and books, and is the inventor of 30 issued patents in the United States and Europe. Throughout his academic career, he has supervised trainees and students who have gone on to senior faculty positions at Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Berkeley, University of California San Francisco, Duke University, University of Washington, and Ohio State University. Ferrari's degrees are in Mathematics (Padova, Italy), and Mechanical Engineering (M.S., & Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley).
He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Academy for the Advancement of Science and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He also holds honorary doctorates in Electrical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Palermo and the University of Naples “Federico II”, respectively.
Some of the greatest Italian scientists have been members of the Academy, including Volta, Marconi, Spallanzani, Golgi, Ruffini, Dini, Pacinotti, Fermi, Avogadro, Natta, Cotugno, Marotta, Scacchi, Cannizzaro, Volterra, Severi, Corbino, Amaldi, Marini Bettolo, Scarascia Mugnozza. Seven Academy members have been awarded the Nobel Prize: Marconi, Golgi, Fermi, Natta, Bovet, Rubbia and Levi-Montalcini.
Lorgna also established that the Society should comprise a class of foreign members. Ferrari becomes the 177th foreign member and 14th American member, joining an elite group of Americans that includes Benjamin Franklin and Bruce Alberts.
To speak with Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., contact Gale Smith, Houston Methodist, at 281.627.0439 or gsmith@houstonmethodist.org. For more information about Houston Methodist, visit houstonmethodist.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
The Academy was founded as 'Società Italiana' (Italian Society) in 1782 in Verona by Antonio M. Lorgna, a mathematician and hydraulic engineer who invited the most outstanding scientists from every part of Italy to join the society.
Ferrari will be inducted into the academy during a May 5 ceremony in Italy, where he will lecture on nanomedicine and the use of transport oncophysics and multi-stage vectors. He and a team of investigators from the Houston Methodist Research Institute recently published a landmark study in Nature Biotechnology that may have transformed the treatment of metastatic triple negative breast cancer by creating the first drug to successfully eliminate lung metastases in mice. The second foreign fellow to join Ferrari is Douglas Wallace of the University of Pennsylvania.
As the leader of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Ferrari oversees all research and education programs. The HMRI houses more than 800 clinical protocols.
Ferrari is the founder of biomedical nano/micro-technology, especially in its applications to drug delivery, cell transplantation, implantable bioreactors, and other innovative therapeutic modalities. He served as special expert on nanotechnology at the National Cancer Institute in 2003-2005, providing leadership for the formulation, refinement, and approval of the NCI's Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, currently the world's largest program in medical nanotechnology.
Ferrari has published more than 350 research papers and books, and is the inventor of 30 issued patents in the United States and Europe. Throughout his academic career, he has supervised trainees and students who have gone on to senior faculty positions at Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California Berkeley, University of California San Francisco, Duke University, University of Washington, and Ohio State University. Ferrari's degrees are in Mathematics (Padova, Italy), and Mechanical Engineering (M.S., & Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley).
He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Academy for the Advancement of Science and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He also holds honorary doctorates in Electrical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Palermo and the University of Naples “Federico II”, respectively.
Some of the greatest Italian scientists have been members of the Academy, including Volta, Marconi, Spallanzani, Golgi, Ruffini, Dini, Pacinotti, Fermi, Avogadro, Natta, Cotugno, Marotta, Scacchi, Cannizzaro, Volterra, Severi, Corbino, Amaldi, Marini Bettolo, Scarascia Mugnozza. Seven Academy members have been awarded the Nobel Prize: Marconi, Golgi, Fermi, Natta, Bovet, Rubbia and Levi-Montalcini.
Lorgna also established that the Society should comprise a class of foreign members. Ferrari becomes the 177th foreign member and 14th American member, joining an elite group of Americans that includes Benjamin Franklin and Bruce Alberts.
To speak with Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., contact Gale Smith, Houston Methodist, at 281.627.0439 or gsmith@houstonmethodist.org. For more information about Houston Methodist, visit houstonmethodist.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.