President
Ornella Pastoris
Ornella Pastoris is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of “Biology and Biotechnology” at the University of Pavia. She has previously served as a member of the Board of Directors and the Academic Senate of the University of Pavia. She was also the former President of the Didactic Council for Biotechnological Sciences and Coordinator of various programs, including the Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, the Master’s degree in Experimental and Applied Biology, the Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology, and the Master’s degree in Advanced Biotechnology. She oversees the Master’s Plus program in collaboration with companies and industries in the biotechnology sector.
Her research activities have primarily focused on cerebral and muscular bioenergetics, involving the evaluation of biochemical parameters in animal models and subsequently in the human field. In this context, she has been involved in the study of neurodegenerative diseases and neuromuscular disorders in pediatric patients. Currently, her research includes pharmacogenetics, particularly the study of genetic polymorphisms in patients who have exhibited adverse reactions following the intake of drugs or substances of abuse.
She is the author of over 160 publications in national and international journals and has participated as a speaker in numerous conferences. Currently, she serves as the President of CVBF and is a Member of the Technical Scientific Committee of BioBasic Europe.
Chief Executive Officer
Donato Bonifazi
Donato is the Chief Executive Officer of CVBF.
Work experience:
He is Coordinator of EPTRI (European Paediatric Translational Research Infrastructure). He has been President of the Italian Association of CROs (AICRO) between 2018-2020, and Trial Leader of two EU-funded multinational clinical trials (DEferiprone Evaluation in Paediatrics and GAbapentin for Paediatric Pain, both funded within the FP7-Health) between 2011-2017. He is Chair of the Events&Training Working Group of the EUCROF (European Clinical Research Organizations Federation) and member of the Coordinating Group at the Enpr-EMA (the European Network of Paediatric Research at the European Medicines Agency) representing the TEDDY European Network of Excellence for Paediatric Research, in his role of Board Member. He is between the founders of INCiPiT, the Italian Network for paediatric clinical trials, and of the two YPAGs (Young Persons Advisory Groups) in Italy and Albania.
Education:
Donato holds a Master’s Degree in Management, Marketing specialisation from LUISS University. He earned a Master in “Competences and technique for personnel selection” at SDA Bocconi. He carried out the Advanced Course “FP7 – Financial and Project Management” at Europa Media of Budapest. He is a certified Project Manager
Member
Cosimo Damiano Altomare
Cosimo D. Altomare is full professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Bari (Italy) since 2001, where he currently serves as Coordinator of the M.Sci. Degree in Pharmacy and Industrial Pharmacy. At the beginning of his career, he spent more than two years (1990-92) as post-doctoral fellow at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), whereas in 2008 and 2015 he was appointed as visiting professor at the Peoples Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) in Moscow and the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Prof. Altomare has authored more than 150 publications in journals with high impact factor, several book chapters and international patents, mostly pertaining computational chemistry, cheminformatics and molecular modeling as applied to drug design and repurposing of novel neurological, cardiovascular and anticancer agents. Invited speaker at several international conferences, since 2012 he serves as Co-Editor of the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Elsevier). Currently involved in a project on drug repurposing in rare diseases (DefeatLD), supported by NextGenerationEU funds (PNRR), in the framework of long-dating collaboration with Consorzio per Valutazioni Biologiche e Farmacologiche (CVBF), Prof. Altomare actively contributed with his research unit within two projects: Small Medicines Advanced Research Training (SMART) and the European Paediatric Translational Research Infrastructure (EPTRI).
Member
Graziano Pesole
Graziano Pesole is Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Bari and a leader in the fields of bioinformatics, comparative genomics, and molecular evolution. He is currently focused on developing and applying bioinformatics methods for analyzing next generation sequencing data, including genome and transcriptome assembly, gene expression profiling, mutation detection, metagenomics, and more. Pesole has created widely-used bioinformatics software tools and databases such as UTRdb, ASPicDB, Weeder, and REDIportal. He leads an interdisciplinary research group and has coordinated multiple funded research projects from Italian and European agencies. Pesole is a Founding Member and Past President of the Italian Society of Bioinformatics and currently heads the Italian node of ELIXIR, a European infrastructure for bioinformatics. He serves on the editorial boards of leading bioinformatics journals and has authored books, book chapters, and patents in the fields of bioinformatics and genomics.
Member
Lucia Margari
Lucia Margari is Full Professor of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry at the University of Bari, Italy, where she has served in various leadership roles since 1994. She has directed the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit since 2005 and the School of Specialization in Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry since 2004. She previously held positions as Associated Professor (2002-2006) and Researcher (1994-2002) in Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry. Margari completed her medical training at the University of Bari, earning a Medical Doctorate in Neurology in 1984. She has authored over 100 publications in child and adolescent psychiatry and neurology. Margari is a member of several professional societies, having served on the board of the Italian Society of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry (2008-2014) and held leadership roles representing child neuropsychiatry within European medical organizations. Her research and clinical work focuses on assessment and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders in youth.