Mauro Giacca, MD PhD, is Head of the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences, and Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine & Life Sciences, King’s College London. Until 2019, he has served as the Director-General of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), an organization in the United Nations system based in Italy. In 2005, he became a Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Trieste, Italy.

He is the President of the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR) European Section and serves on the scientific boards of numerous academic institutions internationally. He is a founder of Forcefield Therapeutics and Heqet Therapeutics, two recent startups that develop cardiovascular biologics, and the co-founder of Purespring Therapeutics, which operates in the field of AAV gene therapy of the kidney. He is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the United Kingdom.

He received his Degree in Medicine from the University of Trieste, Italy and his PhD in Microbiology and Virology from the University of Genoa, Italy.

A medical doctor by training, he is considered an expert in the generation of viral vectors for cardiovascular applications and the development of novel biologics for cardiac repair and regeneration in patients with myocardial infarction and heart failure. He has published over 400 papers in international journals, in addition to several reviews and chapters in books and university textbooks. His research has been founded by numerous international grants, including two consecutive ERC Advanced Investigator grants, and a British Heart Foundation Programme Grant.