Assistant Professor (Ricercatore a t.d. - art. 24 c.3-b L. 240/10) in Hygiene and Public Health (SSD MED/42 Igiene generale e applicata) at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and advanced technologies “GF Ingrassia”, University of Catania, Italy.
Degree in Biological Sciences cum laude at the University of Catania. Thesis: “Molecular epidemiology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: heterogeneity, persistence and distribution in patients with cystic fibrosis”. Ph.D. in Genetic Diseases in Evolutive Age, University of Catania. Thesis: “Gene-environment interaction in the cancer: the epidemiological model of cervical cancer”.
2002-2017: Grant supported Research Fellowship by the University of Catania on Research Projects in Hygiene and Public Health.
Research collaborator in different funded project National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CCM), Italian Ministry of Health and by the Sicilian Region, Italy.
Research expert of the WorkPackage 6 "Valorisation", of the European Program “Leonardo da Vinci" "Care for Work - Competence updating for care service sector as new employment source through the use of innovative learning methodologies (LLP/LdV/TOI/09/IT/0459)".
In the coordination group and data manager of the Italian SPIN-UTI project (Surveillance of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Intensive Care Units). She has managed surveillance databases for inclusion in the National Archive for the surveillance of healthcare associated infections in intensive care units (National System for the surveillance of Infections in Intensive Care - SITIN), Emilia-Romagna Regional Health and Social Agency, Italy. Data have been sent to the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) by TESSy (The European Surveillance System).
Data Manager and collaborator in the following projects: “Point prevalence survey of healthcare associated infections and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals in the Sicilian region”; “Healthcare-Associated infections in Long- Term care facilities in Europe, HALT2 and HALT3 in the Sicilian region”; “Surveillance of Surgical Site Infections of the GISIO-SItI”.
Member of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (SItI), of the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene (GISIO) and of European Public Health Association, EUPHA. Member of the Research Centre LaPOSS, Laboratory for Planning and Analysis of Public Policies and Services for People (www.lpss.unict.it) University of Catania.
Member of the “Organismo preposto al benessere degli animali (OPBA)”, University of Catania.
Teaching activity in Hygiene and Public Health, Epidemiology and Statistics has been provided since 2006 for different taught courses at the University of Catania, Italy.
Research interests:
• Epidemiology and control of healthcare-associated infections
• Informative systems and molecular methods for risk management
• Nutritional epidemiology: nutritional surveillance and molecular biomarkers