Michele Milella

I am an experienced Medical Oncologist with a sincere passion for Translational Research. Since my beginnings in Medical School, I have been fascinated by the possibility that medicine could indeed become a “science”, as much based on personal experience as on a deep understanding of the molecular and biological mechanisms underlying pathological processes and the action of drugs and therapeutic procedures. For this very reason, I followed a “physician/scientist” training path over my entire career. I had laboratory training in general and molecular Immunology (with a focus on tumor immunology, cytokine gene transfer into cancer cells, NK cell activation through Fc receptors and integrins), Signal Transduction (with a focus on therapeutic targeting of the MAPK and PI3K/mTOR pathways, development of rational, mechanism-based therapeutic combinations of signaling inhibitors, development of predictive biomarkers), and Tumor-Host Interactions (with a focus on genomically driven tumor-stroma interactions). From a clinical standpoint, I extensively trained in Medical Oncology (where I tried to apply the methodological approach learned in the lab to complex clinical problems and to diagnostic and clinical reasoning), with a special focus on pancreatic and hepato-biliary, lung, and genito-urinary cancers, as well as neuroendocrine tumors, Clinical Research (design, conduction, and interpretation of clinical trials, including first-in-human/phase I trials), and Biostatistics (encompassing classical frequentist and probabilistic Bayesian approaches to statistical reasoning). In my new role as professor of Oncology, director of Oncology at the University of Verona/AOUI Verona, and, more recently, director of the newly created Department of Engineering for Innovation Medicine, my main objective has been to develop a new model of cancer medicine, whereby patient management and treatment decisions are guided by a profound knowledge of disease biology in individual patients. Cutting-edge molecular pathology, a keen attitude to work in a multidisciplinary setting, industrial partnerships and collaborations, and the innovation potential of my current environment, encompassing physic, informatic, engineering, philosophical and juridic competences (in addition to the medical ones) all concur to make the realization of an effective Precision Medicine applied to Oncology and Hematology program within reach at our Institution, giving us the possibility to change our clinical practice into a personalized, precise and humane “cancer science” centered on each single patient.