Big data for Health: the Lecture by Virologist Ilaria Capua
Thursday, 6th December at 12:30 p.m. at the Humanitas University Campus Auditorium
She is well-known for her studies on flu viruses, in particular, bird flu. Pioneer of the DIVA strategy, first woman to win the prestigious Penn Vet World Leadership Award and now Director of the One Health Center of Excellence in Gainesville (Florida): Ilaria Capua, Thursday 6th December at 12:30 p.m. at the Humanitas University Campus Auditorium, will hold a lecture entitled “A Conceptual Framework for the One Health Vision. From No data to Big Data”. Prof. Alberto Mantovani will introduce and moderate the seminar.
Ilaria Capua graduated cum laudem in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Perugia in 1989 and in 1991 she specialized in Hygiene and Animal Health at the University of Pisa. Afterwards, she obtained a PhD from the University of Padua.
In 2000 Ilaria Capua developed the “DIVA” strategy (Differentiating Vaccinated from Infected Animals) , the first to successfully eradicate an outbreak of bird flu, now recommended as a control method by the European Union, the OIE and FAO.
In 2006, she initiated a heated international debate on the interdisciplinary sharing of genetic data due to the epidemic threat posed by the H5N1 “bird” virus using open-access digital platforms. This stance has led to changes in the policy of international organizations on data transparency with the result of optimizing strategies to address global threats such as pandemics
Ilaria Capua has been awarded numerous prestigious international prizes for her scientific work. In 2007 she received the Scientific American 50 award and in 2008 she was included among the “Revolutionary Minds” by Seed – the American magazine – for her leadership in the politics of science. In 2011, she was the first woman to win the Penn Vet World Leadership Award, the most prestigious award in the field of veterinary medicine. In 2012 she received the Gordon Memorial Medal in England for her contribution to scientific research in the veterinary field; in 2012 she was also awarded the title of Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica italiana (Grand Officer of the Italian Republic). In 2013 she was awarded by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei the international prize “Guido Lenghi and Flaviano Magrassi” for Biological or Clinical Virology. In 2014 she won the Excellence Award, of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). She was also elected a member of the fields of mathematics, physics and natural sciences of the Accademia Galileiana.
In June 2016, after resigning from the Chamber of Deputies, she moved to the United States, to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she directs the One Health Center of Excellence.