Mauro Ferrari

Mauro Ferrari (born 7 July 1959) is a nanoscientist and leader in the field of nanomedicine. He served as special expert on nanotechnology for the National Cancer Institute (2003-2005) and was instrumental in establishing the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer in 2004.

Ferrari held tenured academic positions at UC Berkeley, Ohio State University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the University of Texas Health Science Center.

Early life and education Ferrari was born in Padua, Italy in 1959. He spent his early years in Udine and Florence before attending the University of Padova and earning his Laurea (PhD) in Mathematics in 1985. He moved to Berkeley, California where he earned a master's degree and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California Berkeley.

Career Professor of Engineering Ferrari became an associate professor of engineering at Berkeley, then moved to the Ohio State University as professor of bioengineering, internal medicine, and mechanical engineering. He studied medicine at the Ohio State University concurrent with his faculty appointment from 2002-2004.

Cancer research He moved to the MD Anderson Cancer Center and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX to become the chair of the department of nanomedicine and biomedical engineering, and then in 2010 accepted the position of president and CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute in Houston, TX. On 1 January 2020, Ferrari assumed the position of president of the European Research Council (ERC). Ferrari was not alone in his criticism of the EU response to COVID-19.

The ERC countered that calling for specific research was contrary to their mandate. According to Science Magazine, "ERC, set up to reward bottom-up basic research ideas, does not designate money for specific research areas....Other EU organ[ization]s can and do pay for research in particular fields, including COVID-19, but ERC is designed to protect science from politics. Ferrari writes that 'the expected burden of death, suffering, societal transformation, and economic devastation' of the pandemic justifies breaking this rule." The ERC stated that on 27 March 2020, following a no-confidence vote by the ERC's Scientific Council, they "requested that Mauro Ferrari resign from his position as ERC’s President". They cited poor conduct in office, exploiting the position to further his own projects, and for consistently failing to represent the interests of the ERC.

Ferrari disputed the ERC claims of his failing to meet his obligations and their accusations of inappropriate outside involvements. In the months following Ferrari's resignation, the EU itself debated whether some funding of the ERC should include some focused research on COVID-19; which is what Ferrari advocated and the ERC adamantly opposed.

Other activities Corporate boards AMBER, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Member of the Board of Directors (2010–present) Dead Sea Research Institute, President of the int'l board of governors Leonardo Biosystems, Member of the Board of Directors NanoMedical Systems, Member of the Board of Directors

Non-profit organizations Member of the Engineering Leadership Board, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston

Research interests Ferrari's research uses nanotechnology, microtechnology, physical sciences, mathematics, biomechanics, and material sciences to develop new technologies for health care applications like drug delivery and cancer therapeutics. He leads a physical sciences in oncology center, one of a network of centers sponsored by the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Center. The research of this center focuses on understanding the physical and biomechanical biological barriers that reduce the efficacy of cancer therapeutics. He developed a new drug called iNPG-pDox, composed of silicon nanoparticles loaded with polymeric doxorubicin, that had better results at lower doses in animal models compared to standard doxorubicin chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer.

Books Ferrari M, Granik VT, Imam A, Nadeau J, editors. Advances in Doublet Mechanics. Lecture Notes in Physics, New Series M: Monographs, vol. m 45. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer Verlag; 1997. Ferrari M. Micro- and Nanofabricated Electro-Optical Mechanical Systems for Biomedical and Environmental Applications. SPIE, The International Society for Optical Engineering; 1999 Jan. Lee A, Lee J, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol I: Biological and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Springer. 2006. Ozkan M, Heller M, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol II: Micro/Nanotechnologies for Genomics and Proteomics. Springer. 2006. Desai T, Bhatia SN, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol III: Therapeutic Micro/Nanotechnologies. Springer. 2006. Bashir R, Werely S, Ferrari M, editors. BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology. Vol IV: Biomolecular Sensing, Processing, and Analysis. Springer. 2006. Cristini V, Ferrari M, Decuzzi P, editors. Nanoparticulate Delivery to Cancerous Lesions: Advances in Mathematical Modeling. Ferrari M, series editor. Fundamental Biomedical Technologies. Vol. 2. Springer. April 2010.

Journal articles

Patents

Honors, decorations, awards and distinctions 2008 Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering 2009 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2011 Founders Award, Controlled Release Society 2015 Aurel Stodola Medal, Mechanical Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Personal life Ferrari met and married his first wife Marialuisa while they were both students at the University of Padova, and they moved to Berkeley, California. While he was faculty at the University of California Berkeley, Marialuisa died from cancer. Ferrari married Paola Del Zotto from Udine, Italy in 1995. He has five children, including two sets of twins.