Riccardo Polosa (born in July 1961 in Catania) is an Italian respiratory physician. According to a paper published in BMC Public Health, he is the most prolific author in the field of electronic cigarettes, as of 2014. "Full Professor of Internal Medicine and specialist of Respiratory Diseases and Clinical Immunology at the University of Catania as well as the Founder and Clinical Director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Scientific Director of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the same University." His research interests center on asthma, COPD, respiratory diseases, smoking-related diseases, smoking prevention and cessation, tobacco harm reduction, and new tobacco products. Since 2009, his research team has been involved in studies on the impact of e-cigarettes, and they were the first in the world to publish a randomized controlled trial on e-cigarettes.
The focus of his academic research has been historically centered upon the investigation of mechanisms of inflammation, biomarkers of disease activity, and novel drug target discovery in the area of respiratory medicine (asthma, COPD, rhinitis) and clinical immunology (allergic and autoimmune diseases). This has culminated with the participation of his research group in large EU funded pan-european research consortia (Unbiased BIOmarkers for the PREDiction of Respiratory Disease Outcome -U-BIOPRED; Airway Disease Predicting Outcomes through Patient Specific Computational Modelling – AIRPROM; Integral Rheumatology & Immunology Specialists Network – IRIS).
Research on asthma, COPD, and respiratory diseases
Polosa Riccardo received his bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from University of Catania in 1986. He thereafter pursued specialisations in diseases of the respiratory system and tisiology in 1990 from the same university and clinical immunology and allergology in 1994 from University of Southampton. He returned to university of Catania to pursue PhD in internal medicine.
Riccardo Polosa pursued specializations in diseases of the respiratory system and physiology in 1990 from the University of Catania and clinical immunology and allergology in 1994 from the University of Southampton. In 1996 he pursued Ph.D. in Internal Medicine at the University of Florence with a thesis on "The role of adhesion molecules in the inflammatory response of allergic asthma" (Supervisor: Prof. L. Mughini). Since 2002 Polosa is a reviewer of the Italian Ministry of Health for ECM activities in the field of Respiratory Diseases and Clinical Immunology and Allergology.
His scientific interests concern: the pathogenetic mechanisms and treatment of asthma, COPD, and rhinitis. Environmental health problems include the incidence of allergic and respiratory diseases in urban areas and air pollution. Significant risk factors for new-onset asthma and progression of COPD.
Social and Scientific contribution to Harm Reduction
In 2000, Polosa Riccardo was appointed Professor in University of Eastern Piedmont, while he continued to serve in various capacities at the department of Pneumology, Rheumatology, Immunological Diseases and Allergology and the center for Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Smoking at University of Catania. Polosa was appointed full professor of internal medicine at University of Catania in 2007 and was promoted as the director of the School of Specialization in Rheumatology in 2011.
In 2018, Riccardo Polosa founded the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), University of Catania, Italy.
The CoEHAR aims at developing policy recommendations that would allow a more widespread diffusion of 'reduced-risk products', such as electronic cigarettes.
Riccardo Polosa was the principal investigator the first prospective randomized study with control group evaluating the efficacy and safety of electronic cigarettes on a sample of 300 smokers unwilling to quit.
He serves as an external member of the Technical Committee of the Italian Institute of Health (ISS). He is also the National Coordinator for the Italian Working Group on "Electronic cigarettes and e-liquids" and has been recently elected Convener for the Working Group on "Requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes", within the European Committee for Standardization.
In May 2020, he launched the Catania Conversation, a science communication initiative that seeks to bring the best of science and media to the high table where policy decisions are debated and decided.