Ruggero M. De Maria

Professor De Maria is an internationally renowned researcher and oncologist and professor of General Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome. He previously held senior positions at major scientific institutions such as Head of the Department of Hematology, Oncology and Molecular Medicine of the National Institute of Health and Scientific Director of the National Cancer Institute “Regina Elena” in Rome. He is currently Chairman of Alliance Against Cancer, a network that brings together the most important cancer centres in Italy.

Professor De Maria has an extensive experience in oncology research gained in Italy and abroad and has directed research teams and conducted several studies supported by national and international funding. Among his most important research we include those aimed at explaining the mechanisms underlying the production of blood cells and the property of cancer cells to resist to drugs. He also conducted pioneering studies on the identification of cancer stem cells of colon and lung cancers, he discovered the capacity of glioblastoma stem cells to create tumor vessels, and identified key mechanisms underlying the formation of metastases in breast and colon tumors.