The Research Node 4 "EPIDEMIOLOGY, MONITORING AND MODELLING" designed to collect and converge data from different sources to improve the ability to analyse and understand the epidemiology of emerging and re-emerging diseases with epidemic potential and transform this data into information for public health action. Within the Italian emerging infectious disease health arena, the EPI-MOD research node proposes actions designed around a One Health perspective by combining surveillance and operational research across sectors and disciplines. This is possible thanks to the combined commitment of the research node and node leader, the Italian Institute of Health (ISS) that hosts experts in the field of human, animal and environmental health, and its two co-leaders: the Italian network of zoo-prophylactic Institutes, in charge of aspects related to animal health end entomological surveillance, and the mathematical modellers of FBK. A unique feature of the EPI-MOD research node is indeed to bring together all the main Italian actors engaged in the production of data for infectious disease (including the main institutions responsible for human, animal and entomological surveillance) and some of the finest national expertise in state-of-the-art methods for the quantitative analysis and integration of such data. The creation of an interdisciplinary network with such a diverse set of skills will allow the research node to tackle the challenges related to emerging infectious threat with a concrete One Health approach, where the sustained interaction across different fields will be highly beneficial to both data producers and data analysts
The activities within Research Node 4 are organized into 8 Work Packages (WP):
- WP4.1 - Innovative models of One Health genomic surveillance
- WP4.2 - Clinical Networks for the identification of clinical and diagnostic markers and immunological monitoring
- WP4.3 - Innovative tools for screening infection from a One Health perspective
- WP4.4 - Human response to outbreaks
- WP4.5 - Innovative integration models for One Health surveillance at local level
- WP4.6 - Statistical analysis and models on One Health integrated data
- WP4.7 - Mathematical Models
- WP4.8 - Translating and integrating innovative data into information for action
Researchers involved
Anna Teresa Palamara
Research Node 4 Leader
Istituto Superiore di Sanità
Anna Teresa Palamara is the Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and Full Professor of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology at Sapienza University of Rome. She graduated with honours in Medicine and Surgery at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. During her specialization in Dermatology and Venereology, she began her research activity focusing on infectious diseases. Author of more than 200 publications in peer-review journals and more than 600 technical documents, (H-index: 48; Total Citations: 7550), during her career, Prof. Palamara extended and consolidated her expertise on Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Public Health and complex systems management, participating in multidisciplinary teams of experts, and collaborating with national and international agencies, included the Italian Ministry of Health, ECDC, and WHO. From 2013 to 2019, she has been President of the SIM, promoting educational and scientific activities. During pandemic, she contributed to the coordination of COVID-19 integrated and SARS-CoV-2-variants surveillances and served as scientific advisor of the COVID-19-Task Force of Sapienza University of Rome. From 2022 is a member of Technical-Healthcare Committee of the Ministry of Health (Section L). From 2023, Prof. Palamara servs as a member of the working group on AMR, the Board Governance of the Microbiology Network (AGENAS), and as ISS representative in the Steering Committee of the PNCAR 2022-2025.
Antonia Ricci
Research Node 4 Co-Leader
Associazione Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali
Antonia Ricci graduated in Veterinary Medicine in 1993 at Bologna University, and she received a Postgraduate certificate in Diagnosis and prevention of animal diseases in 1994, and a Postgraduate specialisation in Food Hygiene in 1997 at the University of Torino.
She headed until February 2018 the Food Safety Department of Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie(IZSVe), in Italy, and in March 2018 she was nominated Director of Science of IZSVe.
She heads since 1999 the National Reference Laboratory for Salmonellosis in Italy, which in 2007 was nominated OIE Reference Laboratory. From 2009 to 2018 she was member (and chair since 2015) of the Biohaz Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Her main fields of expertise are microbiology, epidemiology and control of foodborne zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance; in these areas she has given consultancy to national and international bodies, such as the European Commission, OIE, WHO, and she leads several research projects.
Stefano Merler
Research Node 4 Co-Leader
Fondazione Bruno Kessler
Stefano Merler’s research has covered a range of scientific topics related to the epidemiology of infectious diseases, the statistical, mathematical and computational modelling of infectious diseases transmission, the evaluation of the effectiveness of intervention measures. I have carried out research on emerging infectious diseases (influenza, SARS-CoV-2), vector-borne diseases (chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika, dengue), antimicrobial resistance (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase producing), childhood diseases (morbillo, chickenpox, respiratory syncytial virus, tuberculosis), filoviruses (Zaire and Sudan ebolavirues, Marburg), sexually transmitted diseases (mpox). During the COVID-19 pandemic he served as scientific advisor for the Italian National Institute of Health, the Italian Ministry of Health, the Special Commissioner for the COVID-19 Emergency and the Italian Scientific and Technical Committee. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic he served as scientific advisor for the Italian National Institute of Health.
Author of 176 research papers, with 156 academic papers for a cumulative JCR 2022 - Impact Factor (updated June 2023) of 1610.5 and 20 conference proceedings and book chapters; h-index: 44 (Scopus); total citations: 13164 (Scopus).
