20. Diego Ardigò, MD, PhD, Head of Research and Development, Global Rare Diseases, Chiesi Group

Diego is currently the Head of Research & Development of Global Rare Diseases at the Chiesi Group. Before this role, he was leading Chiesi’s development projects in rare diseases and advanced therapies and has more than 10 years experience in drug development, spanning from pre-clinical to commercial phase. Diego is an MD with a specialization in Internal Medicine. He obtained a PhD at the University of Parma (Italy) in cardiovascular pathophysiology and a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular genomics at Stanford University (California, US). Before joining the industry, he worked at the University of Parma (Italy) in the field of cardiovascular and metabolic genomics, and as free-lance consultant for various academic institutions. He joined Chiesi in 2010, where he acted as Clinical Lead in the registration of the first stem cell therapy in EU and led the cross-company team (with uniQure BV) treating the first patient with a commercial gene therapy in EU. He also built an internal unit for the technical assessment of new in-licensing opportunities and the R&D infrastructure for due diligences. Diego is serving as chairman of the Therapies Scientific Committee of IRDiRC (International Rare Diseases Research Consortium) and board member of the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE). He is the author of 50+ indexed papers and a frequent speaker at international medical and industrial congresses.