Maria-domenica Cappellini MD

Professor Cappellini qualified as an MD in 1974 at the University of Milan, Italy. She is Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Milan and Chief of the Rare Diseases Center at the Policlinico Foundation, Milan. Professor Cappellini has been active in the fields of thalassaemia, haemoglobinopathies, and the haem biosynthetic pathway for over 30 years.

She has published a large number of peer-reviewed original articles in these areas, as well as being a regular contributor and invited speaker at national and international meetings. Professor Cappellini focused on the phenotypic expression of thalassaemia major and intermedia and evaluated the genotype-phenotype relationship, taking into account the co-inheritance of modifier genes. She identified the mechanisms underlying the thrombotic risks in thalassaemia intermedia. She studies in vitro molecules capable of inducing fetal hemoglobin in view of therapeutic application.

Professor Cappellini studies oxidative stress in thalassaemic erythrocytes, focusing on the role of non-transferrin-bound iron in relation to iron chelation. She is involved in clinical trials for new iron chelators, and has been the coordinator of a project on erythroid proteomics since 2002.