FRANCA BENINI (Scientific Director)

Currently the Medical Director of the Paediatric Clinic and co-Vice Director of the PICU at Padua University Hospital, Director of the Veneto Regional Reference Centre for Children’s Palliative Care and Pain Management, she is also an Adjunct Professor for Paediatric Medicine at Padua University.

In 1981, Dr Benini graduated from Padua University with a degree in General Medicine and Surgery. She went on to specialize, at Padua University, in Paediatric Medicine (1985), in Anaesthesiology and Reanimation (1989), in Neonatology (1990), Pharmacology (1995) and, in 2004, she obtained a Masters degree Antalgic Therapy and Paediatric Palliative Care.

At the beginning of her career she accumulated a broad range of training experiences in Canada and the United States. Returning to Padua, she provided key support for the creation of the “Casa del Bambino” which she current Directs. It comprises a publicly funded children’s hospice/residential centre for the delivery of palliative care and pain management for children with incurable illness and a regional diagnosis centre for abused children. She is also the Veneto Regional Coordinator for the team specialised in children’s palliative care and pain management delivery.

She is the author of numerous published studies regarding the quality of life of children and families affected by incurable illness and with the delivery of effective palliative care and pain management for children living with serious illness.

MATTEO ASTI

Matteo Asti is a film historian. He’s a lecturer in Film studies and Media Studies at Accademia SantaGiulia and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. His main research interests include the relationship between cinema and religion, the media representation of the end-of-life as well as media education. He organizes and takes part at many cultural and film events.

SIMONA CACACE

She is an affirmed, private Researcher in Comparative Law and a Lecturer in Bio-Law at the Law Department of Brescia University. She received her PhD with the highest grade from the Sant’Anna University of Pisa. She has published several books; ‘Self-determination in Healthcare‘ and ‘Choice and Science. Interface in healthcare and advance treatment provisions‘ (Giappichelli Editor), she has edited two other publications and written approximately seventy articles. She has also been a Plenary Speaker at numerous national and international conferences and seminars.
She is a member of the editorial board of the High impact magazine ‘Rome and America. The Journal of Integration and Unification of Law in Eurasia and Latin America’.
She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Civil and Juvenile Courts in Brescia. She acts as a Peer-Reviewer for various scientific journals, many high impact. Her focus areas for research, study and teaching include; responsibility in healthcare, the beginning and the end of life, safeguarding health and individual choice with respect to the generally accepted treatment of the body.

MARIA LAURA CHIOZZA

Medical doctor with specialization in Pediatrics and Urology at the University of Padua and in Organization and Health Management for Doctors at the Luigi Bocconi University of Economics and Management in Milan.

She is currently the Director of the Structural Department of Human Resources and UOC Quality and Accreditation at Padua Hospital and a Senior Lecturer School in the Department of Medicine and Surgery at Padua University.

LUCIA DE ZEN

A medical doctor and surgeon with a specialization in Paediatrics, she is currently the Director of Regional Reference Centre for Children’s Palliative Care and Pain Management at the Burlo Garofolo Children’s Hospital in Trieste, and responsible for the regional home-care network in Friuli Venezia Giulia. She is a member of the Ministry of Health’s Technical Group on Children’s Palliative Care and Pain Management and a member of the Bioethics Committee for the Burlo Garofolo Hospital and local healthcare authorities (ASFO). She the author of over 20 studies published in national and international scientific journals.

MARCELLO ORZALESI

A medical doctor and surgeon, he specialized in Paediatrics in Pavia and in Rome, completing a Fellowship at the Children ‘s Hospital Medical Center of Harvard University in Boston.
He directed the Perinatal Clinical Research Center of the University of Yale (U.S.A.) for three years. He was Professor of Neonatology at the Universities of Naples, Sassari and Rome “La Sapienza”, with the Direction of the respective Clinical Divisions of Neonatology.
He directed the Neonatal Intensive Care Division and the Department of Medical and Surgical Neonatology of the Bambino Gesù-IRCCS Paediatric Hospital in Rome.
He was Italian Representative at the European Society of Perinatal Medicine and Member of the Board of Directors of the European Society for Paediatric Research and the Italian Society of Perinatal Medicine.
He was President and Past President of the Italian Society of Neonatology and of the Italian Society of Intensive Care and Secretary of the Epidemiology Section of the European Pediatric Research Society.
He is an Honorary Member of the American Society of Pediatrics.
He is President of the Bioethics Committee of the Italian Society of Pediatrics and member of the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Maruzza Lefebvre D’Ovidio Onlus Foundation.
He is the author of more than 330 scientific publications, many of which in prestigious high impact factor international journals, For many years he has been dealing with respiratory pathophysiology of neonates, the evaluation of perinatal care, the humanization of healthcare for neonates, bioethical problems in neonatology and paediatrics and the organization of paediatric palliative care services.
He is an independent Speaker on paediatrics, children’s palliative care and ethics.
His Native language is Italian but he also reads and speaks fluently English, French and Spanish.

CARLO PERUSELLI

A Doctor specialised in Palliative Care delivery, he held the position of Scientific Director of the Maruzza Foundation and President of the Italian Palliative Care Society (SICP).

He is a Lecturer for the Post-graduate Masters in Palliative Care for the Universities of Milan, Trieste, Turin, Parma and the Sacred Heart Catholic University in Rome. He taught “Training and tutorship of research activities” for the Reggio Emilia Regional Healthcare Authority. He represented Italy in the Steering Committee of the European Society of Palliative Care (EAPC), where he was also Secretary. He is the author of numerous publications in the field of Palliative Care with a particular focus on the evaluation of both quality of care and the quality of life of patients and their family members.

LUDOVICA DE PANFILIS

Healthcare Researcher and Clinical Bioethicist, currently Head of the Bioethics Unit at the Reggio Emilia provincial healthcare authority and President of the Clinical Ethics Committee for Reggio Emilia. In 2010, she graduated in Philosophical Sciences, in 2013 she obtained a first level Master’s degree in Palliative Medicine and, in 2016, a PhD in Law and New Technologies, Bioethics Curriculum, at the University of Bologna (Italy). She is the author of numerous publications in international peer-reviewed journals, a lecturer for various university master’s degrees (first and second level) and higher education courses.In 2022 she obtained the National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor in the MED/ 02 – History of Medicine and Bioethics sector. Her main areas of research are empirical bioethics applied to healthcare contexts, palliative care, ethics of care provision, shared care planning and advance treatment orders, patient engagement, ethical decision-making processes and ethics consultancy.

FRANCESCA UEZ

Nurse Manager delivering Paediatric Palliative Care for the Trento Provincial Healthcare Authority.

She graduated in Literature and Philosophy and, successively, in Nursing, obtaining a 1st level master’s degree in Paediatric Palliative Care and Pain Management at Padua University. She became a palliative homecare nurse in 2008 and began working with children in 2016. In 2019 she was appointed as a Nurse Manager contributing to the creation of the dedicated Paediatric Palliative Care and Pain Management Network with a strong focus on collaboration and sharing care plans between the paediatric network, the Palliative Care teams and the hospital departments which also involved the development of ad hoc training programs in Paediatric Palliative Care.