Massimo Libra - Biography#

Massimo Libra, MD, PhD, is currently the head of the Experimental oncology laboratory. Dr. Libra in 1995 graduated in medicine and surgery at the University of Catania and subsequently obtained his medical oncology specialization (1999) and PhD in oncology (2002). As a student of the school of medicine, he was a fellow at the general pathology laboratories where he started his studies on the mechanisms of cancer development.

As postdoc of the National Cancer Institute in Aviano (Italy), he studied the genetic alterations observed in solid tumors and then expanded his skills on the molecular pathogenesis of HCV-associated lymphomas. Dr. Libra enriched his professional skills and established fruitful collaborations during his stage at the laboratory of Dr. James A. McCubrey, East Carolina University, Greenville (NC, USA) and the laboratory of Benjamin Bonavida, UCLA, Los Angeles (CA, USA). During this period he studied the oncogenic pathways that can be targeted pharmacologically.

Additional research interests include the epidemiology of tumors in relation to dietary habits through a network of case-control studies of several common cancers, recruited mostly at the National Cancer Institutes of Aviano, Milano and Naples. Currently he is also investigating the role induced by a dietary intervention on the prognosis of breast cancer.

In 2017 Dr. Libra founded the University Research Center for the study of “Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer” (PreDiCT); currently, he is the director of this center. The aim of PreDiCT is the development of innovative research products that can be rapidly applied in clinical practice.

Scientific Society Membership: 2007- Present: Active Member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); Since 2008 he is a Contributing Member of both the Cancer Immunology and the Tumor Microenvironment AACR Scientific Working Groups. Since 2017 he is member of the World Academy of Sciences (WAS).