Veterinary microbiologist specialized in AMR and antimicrobial therapy with more than 20 years of operational and leadership experience in academia.
I graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pisa in 1994 and obtained my PhD in microbiology in 2000 at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark. Since 2012 I am Professor at the University of Copenhagen, where I lead the research group on One Health antimicrobial resistance focusing on development and testing of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to improve antimicrobial use and reduce AMR in animals. During the last years, I have also filled the roles of Professor of Clinical Microbiology at the Ross University of Veterinary Medicine on St Kitts and Nevis (2015-2017) and Professor of Bacteriology at the Royal Veterinary College in the UK (2018-2020).
I published over 180 peer-reviewed articles, 1 book and 7 book chapters with high citation impact (11,422 citations, H-index 57 and i-10 index 159 according to Google Scholar, accessed in February 2021). Among my research highlights, I have contributed to a better understanding of the environmental origins of some of the most feared AMR phenotypes, namely vancomycin resistance in enterococci and carbapenem resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. My research also shed lights into the evolution and transmission patterns of ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and their plasmids within and between animal and human populations, and led to identification of microbial, host and farm-related factors enhancing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization and transmission in pigs. In recent years, my research interest has shifted focus towards other areas such bacterial response to antimicrobials, drug target discovery, alternatives to antimicrobials, and the role of commensal microbiomes in enteric and respiratory diseases. My leadership highlights include management of the veterinary diagnostic microbiology laboratory at the University of Copenhagen (2004-2013), as well as coordination of large national and European projects and research centres. I became de-facto diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health (ECVPH) in 2005 and of the European College of Veterinary Microbiology (ECVM) in 2020. I am a pioneer of antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary medicine and have participated in numerous international working groups dedicated to development of clinical practice guidelines for rational antimicrobial use in companion animal. As part of my honorary office, I presently chair the Therapeutic Guidelines Group in the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) and I am Science Officer of the ESCMID Study Group for Veterinary Microbiology (ESGVM), which I co-founded in 2014 together with the European Veterinary Subcommittee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (VetCAST).
