Innate Immunity and Inflammation: from Cancer to COVID-19

Alberto Mantovani, MD, is Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the Humanitas University in Milan, Scientific Director of the Istituto Clinico Humanitas and Chair of Inflammation and Therapeutic Innovation, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University, London, UK.  His attention has been focused on molecular mechanisms of innate immunity and inflammation and on the role in the tumor microenvironment and cancer progression of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). He has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in the field of Immunology formulating new paradigms and identifying new molecules and functions. More recently he focused on COVID-19, contributing to the identification of genetic associations and of a novel severity biomarker.

For his research activity he has received several national and international awards, such as the Triennial OECI Award from the Organization of the European Cancer Institutes,  the Robert Koch Award for his contribution to tumor immunology and immunotherapy, the American-Italian Cancer Foundation (AICF) Prize for Excellence in Medicine, the American Association for Cancer Research International Pezcoller Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research and, most recent, the CIMT Lifetime Achievement Award.  The broad impact of his contributions is testified by citations.  As of May 2021 he has over 137,000 citations and an H-index of 173 (Scopus).

Key references:
1. Mantovani, A., Allavena, P., Sica, A., Balkwill, F., Cancer-related inflammation Nature, 2008, 454(7203), pp. 436–444
2. Biswas, S.K., Mantovani, A. Macrophage plasticity and interaction with lymphocyte subsets: Cancer as a paradigm. Nature Immunology, 2010, 11(10), pp. 889–896
3. Mantovani, A., Netea, M.G. Trained innate immunity, epigenetics, and Covid-19. New England Journal of Medicine, 2020