PISA. One of the pioneers of robotic surgery who has brought Pisa to the top in Italy – and beyond – is leaving the Aoup: Professor Franca Melfi will be moving to the University of Calabria.
The news comes from the institution itself, which explains how “Melfi, the current director of the Multidisciplinary Robotic Surgery Center at Aoup, as well as an associate professor of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Pisa and the current president of Eacts – European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery – is returning to her homeland, where she will take on the role of full professor at the University of Calabria (UniCal), where she has just won the competition. In the coming months, her appointment will pass through the Department Council of Pharmacy, Health Sciences and Nutrition, and finally through the Board of Directors of the Calabrian university, after which she will take up her position.” Professor Melfi is expected to officially start in October.
However, this new role will not lead to a complete cessation of relations with Pisa. This is explained by the general director of Aoup Silvia Briani: “I sincerely congratulate Professor Melfi on this important milestone because this university position is prestigious for her and will give her the opportunity to bring to Calabria all the wealth of experience she has accumulated over the years. This is an experience that we intend to continue to benefit from through forms of collaboration that will be greatly appreciated. Today, the Multidisciplinary Robotic Surgery Center at Aoup, equipped with four robotic systems, is indeed an international reference for training, teaching, operational management, and multidisciplinary offerings. It is therefore right to thank her for everything she has been able to plant and nurture until today.”
Melfi’s curriculum is of absolute value. Born in Cosenza, she graduated in Medicine and Surgery in Pisa in 1989. Then she received a ministerial scholarship, attended a postgraduate course in thoracic endoscopy in France, and specialized again in Pisa with honors in thoracic surgery. In 1997, she became a medical director in thoracic surgery in Pisa. This was followed by professional and training experiences in centers of excellence in Italy and abroad. After 1999, she encountered robotics and began the path that would lead her to head the Pisa center and reach the top of the field nationally and in Europe. Among other achievements, Melfi performed the world’s first robotic lung tumor resection in 2001. Under her leadership, the center housed in building 30A of Cisanello has become an international reference point, visited by professionals arriving from France and England.
“For me, it is a return to my roots – Melfi said – but above all it is an opportunity to help build what is already a consolidated expertise in robotic surgery in Calabria. Calabria is indeed pursuing an important healthcare project, with the new Faculty of Medicine and Surgery-TD (digital technologies), a single-cycle master’s degree program set up to train an innovative type of doctor capable of mastering the new opportunities offered by new technologies and artificial intelligence. On this front, I can bring my experience and thus conclude my professional career where I was born, as a circle that closes. I naturally thank all the agencies and institutions, especially Aoup, for everything that has been possible to achieve in Pisa in these fruitful years, which have allowed us to implement such a farsighted project that now stands on its own and, in this case, allows us to continue working together even from a distance.”