Associate professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Dept. Public Health, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

President of the Alliance for a tobacco-free Italy

Past-president of the Italian Society of Tobaccology (SITAB)

 

Maria Sofia Cattaruzza is Associate Professor of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. She has a degree in Medicine, a postgraduate degree in Health Statistics, a Research Doctorate in Microbiology and Epidemiology, an MSc in Medical Demography (University of London – London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).

She worked as an epidemiologist in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, and in the Epidemiology Laboratory at the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI-IRCCS), Rome, Italy.

She teaches at national and international undergraduate, postgraduate and master’s degree courses in medicine, nursing, health sciences, psychology, pedagogy and economics.

She is the president of the “Alliance for a tobacco-free Italy” (https://italiasenzatabacco.it/) a non-profit Tobacco Endgame advocacy organization; the past-president of the “Italian Society of Tabaccology” (SITAB, https://www.tabaccologia.it/ ), a non-profit scientific society for tobacco prevention, cessation and related diseases; a member of the Steering Committee of the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP), and a member of the Tobacco Control Committee of the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

She is the scientific editor of the international scientific journal “Tabaccologia The Journal of Tobacco Science”, a Section Editor of “Annals of Hygiene, Preventive and Community Medicine” and a member of the Editorial Board of “Tobacco Prevention and Cessation”.

Her scientific and research activities are documented on Scopus (31/07/2025) by 189 publications in peer-reviewed, national and international scientific journals, H-index 41, citations 13421.

Her research interests cover various topics related to tobacco control, tobacco addiction and cessation, cancer prevention, public health, epidemiology, preventive medicine, lifestyles and risk factors.

She has received funding for many national and international research projects and has been involved in outreach and third mission activities.