Born and raised in Milan, he graduated with honours in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milan, specialising in Internal Medicine and Immunohematology, and obtained a teaching qualification in Medical Semiotics and Haematology.

 

He worked for over 40 years at the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan, where he created and directed the Transfusion and Transplant Immunology Centre for almost 30 years and founded the Associazione Amici del Policlinico Donatori di Sangue ODV (Association of Friends of the Policlinico Blood Donors), which now has around 25,000 dedicated regular donors.

 

In 1976, he established Nord Italia Transplant and in 1993 the first European placental blood bank, the Milano Cord Blood Bank. From 1999 to 2001, he was Councillor for Social Services for the Municipality of Milan and from 2001 to 2005 Minister of Health. In 2003, he drafted the law reorganising Scientific Institutes for Research, Hospitalisation and Healthcare (IRCCS). He also drafted Decree Law No. 81, converted into Law No. 138 of 26 May 2004, which established the National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CCM) and the National Institute of Molecular Genetics (INGM) at the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan. The IRCCS Spallanzani in Rome and the Sacco Hospital in Milan were also designated as Reference Centres for epidemics.

 

In 2003, Parliament delegated the Government to draft the law on the protection of the health of non-smokers, which came into force on 10 January 2005, the second in the European Union after Ireland.

 

He established the Italian Medicines Agency and included in the 2005 Finance Act the definition of quantity and quality standards for Essential Levels of Care (LEA), the Prevention Plan and the National Plan for Continuing Medical Education.

He is currently Secretary Treasurer of Fondazione Il Sangue based in Milano.

 

Awards: Gold Medal for Public Health (1990), Commander of Merit of the Italian Republic (1995), Knight Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Republic (1999), Rosa Camuna Award from the Lombardy Region (2018), Medal and Diploma of Recognition from the Province of Milan (1994), Ambrogino d’Oro of the Municipality of Milan (1975), Gold Medal for Civic Merit of the Municipality of Milan (1989), Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, title of “Paul Harris Fellow” of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International (2000), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Agatha of the Republic of San Marino (2002), Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Malta conferred by the Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta and the Sovereign Council of the Order (2003), Gold Award Smoke Free Europe (2005), Internal Medicine Research Award 2025 awarded by FADOI (Federation of Associations of Hospital Internists) ‘in recognition of his contribution to health and science’.

Publications: over 800 scientific papers, mainly as first or last author, and 3 books (Il candidato al trapianto [The Transplant Candidate], Emoglobinuria parossistica notturna [Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria], Spunti per una sanità migliore [Ideas for Better Healthcare]).