Brief Biography

Professor Stefano Cianfarani

Prof. Stefano Cianfarani is Associate Professor of Paediatrics (since 2002), Chief of the Molecular Endocrinology Unit at the “Bambino Gesù” Children’s Hospital (since 2010), Rome Italy, and since 2012 Visiting Professor, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Sweden.

Prof. S. Cianfarani qualified in Medicine from ‘La Sapienza’ University, Rome with summa cum laude in 1982 and received his Pediatrics training at ‘La Sapienza’ University, Rome, where he achieved the Specialization degree in Pediatrics with summa cum laude in 1986. He was trained in Pediatric Endocrinology at “La Sapienza” and “Tor Vergata” Universities of Rome and refined his training in Pediatric Endocrinology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, UK. Prof. Cianfarani is active in both clinical and laboratory-based research, running the Laboratory of Paediatric Endocrinology at the Tor Vergata University of Rome.

He was awarded with the following prestigious National Research Grants: 1) Italian National Research Council  (C.N.R. 203.04.10): "Western Blotting Technique in the study of short stature" 1986. 2) Italian National Research Council - N.A.T.O. (C.N.R.-N.A.T.O. 215.24): "Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in children with short stature" 1990. 3) Italian National Research Council- N.A.T.O. (C.N.R.-N.A.T.O. senior fellowship n. 217.28) Project: “Effects of GH and IGFs on human genome stability. In vitro and in vivo study” 1995.  

From 2004 to 2010, he was chairman of the Clinical Practice Committee of the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and member of the Programme Organizing Committee and Council of ESPE. He was also temporary advisor of World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 and temporary member of EMEA Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) for Diabetes/Endocrinology in 2007. 

He has broad international scientific experience having worked in the:  Department of Growth and Development (Prof. J.M. Tanner), Institute of Child Health, University of London, U.K; Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology (Prof. R.C. Gallo), National Institutes of Health,   National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A.; Department of Chemical Endocrinology (Prof. L.H. Rees), St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London U.K.; Division of Paediatric Endocrinology (Prof. MO Savage), Department of Endocrinology, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, London, UK; Division  of Pediatric Endocrinology (Dr. LE Crowne), Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Bristol, UK and Laboratory of Endocrinology (Prof. JMP Holly), Bristol Royal Infirmary, University of Bristol, U.K.

He has organized International Congresses and Consensus Conferences such as the Workshop on Binding Proteins for Growth Hormone and Somatomedins. Rome, 1990. The Workshop on IGF-I and IGF binding protein assessment and therapeutic benefit, New Orleans, 2004. The Consensus Workshop on Management of the Small for Gestational Age Child. Manchester, UK, 2006. In 2007, he participated as delegate at the Consensus Workshop on Idiopathic Short Stature.Los Angeles, CA, US. He was also the Chairman of the Course in Pediatric Endocrinology for Developing Countries, on behalf of  the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE), held in Nairobi (Kenya) 16-20 May 2006. He has been chairman of ESPE committee of ESPE Seminars in Developmental Endocrinology 2014-2015 and has organized two international Seminars in Developmental Endocrinology in Rome, Bambino Gesù Children’s hospital in 2014 and 2015.  Recently, he has been member of the Steering Committee for the organization of the International GH Safety Workshop held in Manchester, UK, in November 2014.

Prof. S. Cianfarani has been awarded with a number of scientific grants from the European Commission: 1)  “The Prevention of  osteoporosis by Nutritional Phytoestrogens (PHYTOS). European Commission Shared Cost Programmes. No. QLRT-1999-00857. 1999. Sum granted: 50.000 EURO. 2) “Phytohealth”. European Network for Research on Phytoestrogens. EU 2003; 5000 EURO; 3) “SAGhE: Safety and Appropriateness of  Growth hormone treatments in Europe”. HEALTH-2007-3.1-5: EU grant FP7. 2009. Funds 430000 Euro. 4) “Persuaded.Phthalates and bisphenol A biomonitoring in Italian mother-child pairs: link between exposure and juvenile disease”. EU Life plus grant 2014, funds 239000 Euro.

Prof. S. Cianfarani was Editor in Chief of Frontiers in Pediatric Endocrinology, Frontiers Research Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Associate Editor of Review of Diabetic Studies, Society for Biomedical Diabetes Research. Since January 2014 he was appointed as Editor in Chief of Hormone Research in Paediatrics, official journal of European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Sociedade Latino-Americana de Endocrinologia Pediatrica.

Prof. Cianfarani has given numerous invited / endowed lectures nationally and internationally (Europe and USA), regularly supervises and examines trainees in Paediatrics and Paediatric Endocrinology for MD and PhD. He has published 143 peer-reviewed papers (Scopus, total number of citations 2098 in Scopus, h-index: 25, source: Web of Science) and has reviewed for more than 30 international top scientific peer-reviewed Journals. Among them The Lancet, Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics, Pediatric Research, Endocrinology, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Diabetes, Diabetologia, European Journal of Endocrinology and Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Prof. Cianfarani has been elected President elect of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism (ISPED) in 2015.