Personale docente

Carlo Ferrari graduated in Medicine with honors at the University of Parma in 1977; he initially specialized in Internal Medicine (cum laude) at the University of Parma and later on in Infectious Diseases (cum laude) at the University of Pavia. In 1979 he became assistant physician at the Division of Infectious Diseases of the University Hospital of Parma. From 1985 to 1987 he spent 2 years at the Department of Basic and Clinical Research at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, California USA, as postdoctoral fellow in viral immunology, conducting research in the field of the immunopathogenesis of viral hepatitis. In the same Institution he covered from 1988 to 1990 the role of Adjunct Assistant Professor and from 1990 to 2005 he was appointed as Adjunct Associate Professor. From 1997 to 1999 he was also chief of the Laboratory of Viral Immunopathology of the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Parma, Italy. In 1998 he became Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases and from 1999 he is director of the Unit of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology and of the Laboratory of Viral Immunopathology at the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria of Parma. From 2016 he has been appointed as Full Professor of Infectious Diseases and Director of the School of Specialization in Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the University of Parma. From 2018 he is Coordinator of the PhD Course in Translational Medicine and Surgical Sciences at the University of Parma, is member of the Ethic Committee of the Emilia Romagna Region and research delegate for the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Parma

From 1995 to 2008, he was member of different panels of experts of AISF, SIMIT, EASL for the elaboration of italian and international guide lines for clinical management and therapy of chronic viral hepatitis; from 1999 to 2002, he was consultant for the European Commission as an expert in the field of viral hepatitis; from 2010 he has been member of different commissions of the Emilia Romagna Region for the elaboration of clinical recommendations for the use of antiviral therapies in chronic hepatitis B and C.

During his career he received several scientific awards, by italian (Italian Association for the Study of the Liver, AISF 1992) and international (European Society against Virus Diseases 1988, European Association for the Study of the Liver – EASL, 1991 and 1994) scientific societies.

He received several grants from various scientific organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, USA and the European Commission to fund his research. In particular,
- from 1988 to 1991 he was principal investigator of a grant funded by the NIH (National Institutes of Health, USA) to study the immunopathogenesis of viral hepatitis B, entitled "Immunopathogenesis of type B viral hepatitis”, that was subsequently renewed for another 5 years from 1992 to 1997;
- from 1998 to 2000, Principal Investigator and Coordinator, BIOMED EC grant BMH4-CT98-2239, entitled “Rational basis for vaccine design against HCV”;
- from 200 to 2004, Principal Investigator and Coordinator, BIOMED EC grant H4-CT98-2239, entitled “Rational basis for vaccine design against HCV”;
- from 2004 to 2006, Principal Investigator of the Project “Natural-adaptive immunity interaction in HCV infection: search for new therapeutic targets” funded by the Italian Ministry of Health;
- from 2004 to 2006,Principal Investigator of the Project “Pathogenetic role of cell-mediated immune responses in HVC/HIV coinfections” funded by by the Italian Ministry of Health (National Programme on AIDS Research);
- from 2003 to 2006, Principal Investigator, Ministry of the University and Research, Italy, FIRB grant RBNE013PMJ_006 “Genomic and proteomic profiles of chronic viral hepatitis: identification of molecular markers for diagnosis and prognosis of clinical outcomes (cirrhosis hepatocellular carcinoma) and of response to therapy”;
- from 2004 to 2008, Principal Investigator “European Vigilance Network for the Management of Antiviral Drug Resistance European Network of Excellence ViRgil” ;
- from 2007 to 2010, Principal Investigator of the Projecr entitled: “Viral hepatitis emergence: Surveillance and management of antiviral resistance to therapy” funded by funded by the Ministry of Health, Italy, Progetti Ordinari di Ricerca Finalizzata;
- from 2007 to 2010, Principal Investigator of the Project entitled: “Immunological, virological and oncological follow-up of the liver recipients”. Strategic Programmes, Area 1, Emilia Romagna Region, Italy;
- from 2010 to 2013, Principal Investigator EC grant FP7 proposal n. 260844, entitled “Early events in acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection with the aim to identify new biomarkers”;
- from 2011 to 2014, Principal Investigator, Scientific Research in Biomedicine, Cariplo Foundation, Italy, "Immune and epigenetic mechanisms in the control of viral transcription/replication in chronic HBV patients antiviral treatments: an integrated approach to the new biomarkers identification and rational clinical decisions”;
- from 2011 to 2014; Principal Investigator, Ministry of the University and Research, Italy, FIRB grant RBAP10TPXK “Cellular and molecular events in the pathogenesis of chronic HBV and HCV infections”;
- from 2012 to 2015; Scientific Coordinator, Strategic Programmes, Area 1, Emilia Romagna Region, Italy, “A tailored approach to the immune-monitoring and clinical management of viral and autoimmune diseases";
- from 2015-2018; Principal Investigator of the project entitled “A novel integrated genomic and immunological strategy for the therapy of chronic hepatitis B” funded by the Ministry of Health, Italy, Progetti Ordinari di Ricerca Finalizzata (Project Code RF-2013-02359333).
- from 2020: Principal Investigator of the project entitled "Immune profiling to guide host-directed interventions to cure HBV infections" funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 847939

He is inventor in the European patent application entitled "Amino acid residue sequence of hepatitis B core antigen", patent n. 91110233.3, date of filing 21/06/91 (date published 1993 Mar 4), in the European patent application entitled "Peptides for inducing cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses to hepatitis B virus", patent n. 92307785.3, date of filing 26/08/92 (date published 1993 March 4) and in the patent "Identification of HLA-class II restricted helper T cell epitopes within the hepatitis B virus (HBV) preS1 antigen in man" (1994)

His work has been published in the most prestigious scientific journals (Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, Science Translational Medicine, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, PNAS, Journal of Immunology, Journal of Virology, Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, Gut, Gastroenterology).
His present research is mostly focused on the characterization of the immune mechanisms responsible for viral persistence and liver damage in HBV and HCV infections with the objective of developing novel diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive strategies for these infections.

Scientific publications
Total citations n. 19,108
h-Index (Scopus) 69
Manuscripts in international journals n. 174
Manuscripts in national journals n. 18
Book chapters n. 26