Bio
As a neurologist with 30 years of experience in epidemiology, I have been involved in both national and international clinical and epidemiological studies, mainly on stroke. These targets are of outstanding relevance for scientific communities, health system managers and policy makers because provide estimates of stroke burden, of effectiveness and cost-benefit of stroke treatments, procedures, and prevention.

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Dr. Benedetta Piccardi is a neurologist specializing in cerebrovascular diseases at the Stroke Unit of Careggi University Hospital in Florence, Italy, a regional referral center for acute stroke care and neurovascular disorders. She is affiliated with the University of Florence, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine (NEUROFARBA), where she is actively involved in clinical and translational stroke research. Dr. Piccardi’s clinical and research activity focuses on acute ischemic stroke, with particular interest in biological and imaging biomarkers of infarct progression, reperfusion injury, and hemorrhagic transformation. Her work integrates clinical phenotyping with laboratory and experimental models, contributing to translational approaches aimed at improving stroke prognosis and treatment strategies. She has participated in several observational and multicenter studies exploring the role of inflammatory, endothelial, and metalloproteinase-related biomarkers in stroke pathophysiology and outcomes

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Dr. Vanessa Palumbo is a Senior Neurologist at the Stroke Unit of Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy, specialized in the acute management and continuity of care for stroke patients. Since 2008, she has coordinated the hospital’s Stroke Team audits, optimizing time-critical pathways from emergency triage to stroke unit admission. Parallel to clinical work, Dr. Palumbo's research focuses on acute ischemic stroke with the aim of advancing precision medicine in the acute phase. In her research she aims to explore the synergy between advanced neuroimaging and circulating biomarkers to predict secondary stroke injury. By identifying early predictors of neurological worsening, her work aims to bridge the gap between emergency intervention and long-term functional recovery.

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Dr. Renieri is an experienced interventional neuroradiologist, who has performed hundreds of operations for cerebral and spinal vascular diseases. He has participated in international trials as local PI, he is involved in global cerebrovascular disease consortia and frequently presents at international conferences. In his research, he has focused mainly on cerebral aneurysms, ischemic stroke and artero-venous malformations; moreover, Dr. Renieri is part of a clinical and preclinical research group (TREES Study Group) which has already conducted projects on stroke biomarkers.

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Cristina Sarti is a neurology researcher of the University of Florence involved in care and research of cerebrovascular diseases. She is a senior neurologist at the Stroke Unit of Careggi University Hospital. She is responsible for the outpatient clinic of “stroke in the young” and co-responsible of the Heart and Brain Team of Careggi University Hospital together with interventional cardiologists. Early in her career, she focused on experimental ischemia in rats, an experience that has provided her with valuable background in designing and coordinating translational research in recent years. Research interests, always guided by clinical practice, include: - Mechanism of response to acute-phase reperfusion therapies in ischemic stroke - Predictors of outcome in stroke in the elderly - Pathogenesis of stroke in young adults - Management of patent foramen ovale and related stroke - Fabry disease