Massimo Volpe

Massimo Volpe is an Italian cardiologist and an academic. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Rome “Sapienza.”

Volpe's work has focused on hypertension, cardiovascular prevention, vascular dysfunction, heart failure, cardio-renal-metabolic interactions, and translating clinical trials into guidelines. He is the recipient of the 2021 Peter A. van Zwieten Award from the European Society of Hypertension. Additionally, he is a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology as well as a fellow of the American Heart Association.

Education and career Volpe completed his M.D. degree in 1976. He began his academic career in 1977 as a researcher at the National Research Council of Italy. Between 1984 and 1985, he was a research fellow at the Cardiovascular and Hypertension Center of Cornell University Medical College. From 1987 to 1988, he worked as an assistant professor at the same institution in New York City, USA. Additionally, from 1982 to 1992, he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Naples, where he was promoted to associate professor of internal medicine from 1992 to 1995. Between 1995 and 2000, he was a full professor of medicine at the University of Rome “Sapienza”. From 2000 to 2022, he worked as a full professor of cardiology at the same university. Since 2022, he has been an emeritus professor there.

Research Volpe's research has focused on the role of hormonal systems in the cardiovascular physiology and pathology, with a prevalent interest in hypertension and heart failure. He was involved with the experimental and clinical development of Natriuretic Peptides. Subsequently, he investigated the role of renin, natriuretic peptides and endothelial dysfunction in the development of stroke. Additionally, he also explored the genetic basis of stroke. He also examined the role of natriuretic peptides in the sodium/water balance in heart failure, and explored whether baseline biomarkers such as natriuretic peptides predict very long-term mortality in chronic heart failure, showing that atrial natriuretic peptide is the strongest independent predictor of death over 15 years, outperforming clinical and echocardiographic measures. He also studied optimal blood pressure targets in patients with both hypertension and diabetes, highlighting shared pathophysiology, cardiovascular risk, and evidence that overly aggressive BP lowering may increase coronary events, challenging the “lower is better” approach. He outlined a consensus framework for cardiovascular disease primary prevention in Italy, adapted European guidelines to national demographics, culture, and healthcare realities, and promoted a predictive, preventive, personalized, and participative (“4P”) approach for early risk identification. Furthermore, he examined when monotherapy is appropriate for hypertension, highlighting specific subgroups: mild hypertension, young low-risk adults, pregnant or menopausal women, and elderly or frail patients, despite guidelines favoring aggressive combination therapy for most others.

Volpe’s research also redefined heart failure as a heterogeneous, spectrum-based syndrome beyond LVEF, and described the mechanisms underlying sodium retention in the early stages of heart failure, Additionally, he examined how hypertension contributed to coronary artery disease through mechanisms like endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis, cardiac damage (p) and arterial stiffness, and discussed how blood pressure reduction and cardiovascular-targeted therapies lowered coronary risk and improved cardiac outcomes. Moreover, he investigated obesity as a chronic disease, its independent role in increasing cardiovascular risk through metabolic and vascular mechanisms, and reviewed current treatments, including drugs to improve management and clinical outcomes.

Awards and honors 2021 – Peter A. van Zwieten Award, European Society of Hypertension Fellow – European Society of Cardiology Fellow – American Heart Association