Teaching staff

Cesira Pasquarella was born in Ascoli Satriano, Italy, on December 2, 1960.
After graduating cum laude in Medicine at the University of Perugia in 1986, she postgraduated cum laude in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Public Health, at the University of Perugia in 1990 and Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Hospital Organization, at the University of Sassari in 1996. She obtained a Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Rome in 1994.
She worked as a researcher at the University of Perugia from December 30, 1994 to September 30, 2001; as a researcher at the University of Parma from October 1, 2001 to December 29, 2004; and as associate professor at the University of Parma from December 30, 2004 to October 31, 2008. Since November 1, 2008 she is full professor at the University of Parma.
In 1986 she was awarded by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Perugia the “Gustavo Pisenti” Prize for best thesis in Microbiology.
From 1989 to 1993, thanks to a fellowship in hospital hygiene, she worked intermittently in London, UK, at the Public Health Laboratory Service, Division of Hospital Infection. A fellowship granted by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) allowed her to work for two months in 1996 and two months in 1997 at a research project on the dynamics of E. faecalis colonisation in bone marrow transplant patients at the Public Health Laboratory Service, Division of Hospital Infection, London, UK.
In June 1992 she was awarded first prize in the poster session at the Joint Meeting of the AMM, BSAC, HIS and ISCM entitled “Clinical Microbiology - New Perspective” that was held at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
She received an award by the European Space Agency for her contribution to the record-breaking EUROMIR 95 mission. During mission preparation she studied space microbiology in the development of manned space programmes at NASA-JSC, Biological Division, Houston, USA,.
In December 1997, she was invited to the Kantonales Spital Altstätten to teach staff how to apply the Microbial Environmental Monitoring system in operating rooms.
From January 2008 to January 2009, she took part, as an external expert, in the Working group of the European Commission - Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, author of the study “Assessment of the Antibiotic Resistance Effects of Biocides”.

Teaching activity

She has been teaching at the University of Parma, Faculty of Medicine, several subjects, including Epidemiology, Health organization and work hygiene, Hygiene and health education, Organization of biomedical laboratories, Hygiene and prevention, Hospital hygiene, Health promotion and education, Epidemiology, Hygiene and organization of health services, Epidemiological methods to study, program and evaluate health services, Lifestyle, risk factors and well-being techniques.

Research activity

Her main areas of research are: environmental hygiene, hospital hygiene, hygiene in dental health care settings, food hygiene, health education.
She has conducted specific studies on the methods of microbiological air and surface monitoring in environments with high risk of contamination.
She has defined a system for the microbial monitoring of environments (MAM, Monitoraggio Ambientale Microbiologico), based on the fallout of airborne microorganisms onto surfaces, to estimate the contamination risk of critical areas. Settle plates are used for air sampling to evaluate the IMA (Indice microbico aria, index of microbial air contamination), and nitrocellulose membranes are used for surface sampling. The IMA is mentioned by several national and international guidelines and was included in the paper “Continuing Professional Development”, by the Hospital Infection Society, on the Journal of Hospital Infection. The MAM has been applied in risk-prone hospital environments (bone marrow transplant centres, operating rooms, intensive care units), in dental clinics, in food-processing plants and aboard the MIR space station during the EUROMIR-95 mission.

She has been researching hospital infections surveillance as a member of the coordinating group for the project SPIN-UTI (Sorveglianza Prospettica Infezioni Nosocomiali – Unità di Terapia Intensiva), launched by the Working Group on Hospital Hygiene (GISIO) of the Italian Society of Hygiene, preventive medicine and public health(SItI). The project aimed at building an Italian network of hospital infection surveillance in intensive care units following the framework of the European HELICS (Hospital in Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance) network.

Referee for the following journals: Annali di Igiene, Medicina Preventiva e di Comunità, Journal of Hospital Infection, Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Journal of Foot and Ankle Research.

Member of the Italian Society of Hygiene, preventive medicine and public health (SItI); member and secretary of the Working Group on Hospital Hygiene (GISIO) of the same society; member of the Hospital Infection Society and Association of Aerobiology.