(AVN) – Venice, February 18, 2025
"The World Health Forum, an event aimed at projecting our region to the center of the international scientific scene, returns to Veneto. The goal is ambitious: to make Padua a global showcase of healthcare innovation, a place where the brightest minds in medicine gather to discuss the future of health. From March 13 to 15, more than 35 Italian and international universities, renowned researchers, and industry experts will gather in Padua, a city that has been a reference point for research, innovation, and academic excellence in medicine for centuries. This genuine crossroads of knowledge blends tradition and cutting-edge advancements to address the major challenges of tomorrow's healthcare. We want this Forum to become a recurring event, generating ideas and solutions that could redefine how we perceive and experience healthcare, contributing to shaping the future of global health.”
With these words, the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, presented the second edition of the World Health Forum Veneto 2025, which will take place from March 13 to 15 at the Padua Congress Center. The central theme of the event will be "Well-Being and Precision Medicine." The event aims to establish itself as a permanent international forum for health sciences based in Padua, a city historically linked to the origins and development of medicine as a science. Health will be addressed in its broadest sense, encompassing all activities necessary to ensure a state of well-being for the global population, in line with the WHO definition.
The event details were presented during a press conference held at Palazzo Balbi, the headquarters of the Regional Council in Venice, which was attended by the Regional Health Councillor Manuela Lanzarin, the Mayor of Padua Sergio Giordani, the Deputy Rector of the University of Padua Antonio Parbonetti, the President of the Padua Chamber of Commerce Antonio Santocono, the President of Fondazione Cariparo Gilberto Muraro, the Director of the Public Health School Foundation Dr. Francesco Cobello, the President of the Scientific Committee Prof. Giorgio Palù, former Rector of the University of Padua Prof. Rosario Rizzuto, Director of VIMM Prof. Nicola Elvassore, and Dr. Francesca Russo from the Prevention Directorate of the Veneto Region.
Key topics for this second edition include crucial issues for global health, with a focus on prevention and care activities in hospitals and territorial services in the Veneto Region. Other areas of study will include diseases and advanced health technologies from an economic, industrial, and entrepreneurial perspective, with particular attention to digitalization, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic and structural biology, vaccinology, and fine chemistry.
The main innovation for the 2025 edition is the establishment of a protocol to consolidate the positive experience of 2024. The management and coordination of the Forum have been entrusted to a Steering Committee composed of the protocol's signatories, supported by a prestigious international Scientific Committee chaired by Prof. Giorgio Palù, Emeritus Professor at the University of Padua and President of the Veneto Tissue Bank Foundation ETS. Other members include Dr. Francesca Russo, Director of the Prevention, Food Safety, and Veterinary Directorate of the Veneto Region; Prof. Angelo Paolo Dei Tos, President of the School of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Padua; Prof. Nicola Elvassore, Scientific Director of the Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM); Prof. Rosario Rizzuto, Director of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Padua; and Prof. Paolo Simioni, Director of the Department of Medicine (DIMED) at the University of Padua.
The event will host international and Italian scientists involved in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), where the University of Padua represents a national reference center. The Forum will showcase the most advanced therapeutic approaches based on RNA, innovative gene therapy systems, and oncolytic virus treatments for cancer.
Sixteen sessions are planned, covering topics such as environment, microbiota, RNA, mitochondrial medicine, and more. There will be 62 speakers, including leading international scientists from various academic and research institutions: 49 from Italy, 6 from the USA, 1 from the Netherlands, 2 from Spain, 1 from Taiwan, and 3 from the UK.
In addition to the academic institutions of Veneto—the University of Padua and the University of Verona—other participating universities include the University of Florence, the University of Milan, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (Milan). Internationally, participants will come from Imperial College London (UK), the University of Navarra (Spain), Harvard Medical School (USA), Emory University (USA), King's College London (UK), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany), and other institutions still to be confirmed.
The World Health Forum Veneto is born with a specific purpose: to analyze the present and delve into the future of medical sciences and technologies that can improve life.
