Governance

The President is the legal representative of the Foundation, serves as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, is responsible for strategic thrust and manages institutional and public relations and promotes training and dissemination activities concerning the social and economic impact of the Foundation’s scientific research and public engagement.

Gianmario Verona was nominated President of the Supervisory Board of the Human Technopole Foundation in July 2022.

The Director of the Foundation is responsible for the implementation of the multiyear strategic plan and chairs the Management Committee.

Marino Zerial was appointed as Director of Human Technopole in February 2023 and took office on 1 September 2023. 

Marino Zerial graduated in biology at the University of Trieste (Italy) in 1982 with a thesis on lysosomal storage disorders. He conducted post-doctoral experiences at the Institut Jacques Monod (Paris, France) and at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, EMBL (Heidelberg, Germany). He became group leader at the EMBL in 1989 and Max Planck Director as well as co-founder of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, MPI-CBG, (Dresden, Germany) in 1998. In addition, he is Honorary Professor at the Medical Faculty, Technische Universität Dresden (Germany).

Professor of Hygiene and Public Health at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome.
From January 2019 Head of Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome.
From October 2019 President of the Mission Board for Cancer of the European Commission.
In May 2018 he has been elected President of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) by the General Assembly of the WFPHA.
In November 2017 he was appointed Italian Representative in the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation.
In 2016 he was appointed Principal Investigator of the EC Grant N° 733274 “TO REACH” the first health services and health systems research programme funded by the European Commission.
In December 2015, he was appointed Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Policy, Governance and Leadership at the Institute of Public Health, Medical School, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Rome.
From August 2015 to December 2018 he was the President of the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), where he was Commissioner from July 2014 to July 2015.
In May 2013 he was appointed Member of the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in Health (European Commission, DG – SANTE) and in December 2016 he has been awarded a three-year second mandate.
In 2011 he was appointed Member of the European Advisory Committee on Health Research to the WHO European Regional Director and from 2011 to 2014 he was Member of the Executive Board of the National Board of Medical Examiners of the United States of America.
In 2010 he was elected President of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) and in 2011 he was re-elected for a second term up to 2014. Since 2014 he is Past President of EUPHA.
He was member of the Higher Health Council (Consiglio Superiore di Sanità) of the Italian Ministry of Health in the years 2003-2006 and the Italian Minister of Health appointed him Chair of the Public Health Section of the Council itself from 2010 to 2014.
He manages several undergraduate and postgraduate teaching activities including a Master of Science programme and International Courses in Epidemiology.
He is Editor of the European Journal of Public Health, of the Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice and Founding Editor of the Italian Journal of Public Health and of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health.
In May 2019 he received the “Laurea Honoris Causa” at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA.