Prof. Ignazio Marino - Biography

Born in Genoa, Italy, on March 10, 1955, Ignazio R. Marino graduated “summa cum laude” in Medicine and Surgery from the Catholic University of Rome on October 30, 1979.

Medical career

Board-certified in General and Vascular Surgery, he was an Assistant Professor of Surgery between 1983 and 1990 at the Department of Surgery of the Catholic University of Rome, Italy (A. Gemelli University Hospital, Rome, Italy). During that time, he spent four years training in the two most prestigious transplant centers in the world: the Transplant Center of the University of Cambridge, directed by Prof. Sir Roy Y. Calne; and the Pittsburgh Transplantation Institute, led by Dr. Thomas E. Starzl (the pioneer who performed the first human liver transplantation in the history of medicine).

In 1990, he accepted a permanent position at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA, USA), where he was appointed Professor of Surgery. He has been an attending physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh; the Associate Director of the National Liver Transplant Center of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Pittsburgh (the only Liver Transplant Department of the Government of the United States); the Director of the European Medical Division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and, founder, and until 2002, Director and CEO of the Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies (a partnership between the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Italian National Government).

Since November 2002 to date, Dr. Marino has been a Professor of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Between November 2002 and June 2004 ha has been the Director of the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. From July 2004 through August 2006, Dr. Marino has been the Director of the Division of Transplantation of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Since May 28th, 2015, he has been Doctor of Science (Hon.) at the Thomas Jefferson University. In 2016, as Presidential Scholar in Residence, he taught several classes at Temple University Rome, Italy. In the same year, he was appointed as Longmire Visiting Professor at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. From October 2016 until December 2017, he has been the Strategic Advisor to the President and CEO of Thomas Jefferson University.

From January 2018 until December 2019, he has been the Senior Vice President for Strategic Affairs of Thomas Jefferson University.

Ignazio Marino is now a Professor of Surgery at the Thomas Jefferson University, School of Medicine, and, since 2020, Executive Vice President of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health in Philadelphia.

Jefferson Health, the clinical arm of Thomas Jefferson University, is an 18-hospital health system, with more than 42,000 employees and annual operating revenue of $9 billion.

Among its prestigious international partners, Jefferson counts Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli. A number of joint projects are ongoing, among which Erasmus ICM projects in medicine, the building of a neuroscience institute in Rome, and a one-of-a-kind Triple Degree program offering students enrolled in the Cattolica Degree Programme in Medicine and Surgery the opportunity to earn a Double Degree qualification in Medicine with Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Medical College and an additional Master degree in International Health Care Policy (this double degree in Medicine and Surgery is unprecedented and allows the physicians to practice in the 27 Countries of the European Union and the 50 USA States ).

In 2020, Ignazio Marino was appointed Member of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia International Medicine.

In December 2023, Dr. Marino was appointed Emeritus Professor of Surgey at Jefferson.

Dr. Ignazio Marino was one of the 3 consultants chosen by the Secretary of the Department of Health for the National Transplant Committee of the Italian Republic (1999-2002), a member of the Regional Committee of the Organ Procurement Organization for the Region of Sicily (1999-2002), and one of the 5 members of the National Center for Transplantation of the Italian Republic (2000-2004).

Dr. Ignazio Marino has personally performed over 650 transplants and was a member of the surgical team that on June 28, 1992, and January 10, 1993, performed the only 2 baboon-to-human liver xenotransplants in medical history. Between 1999-2002, he performed the first series of liver transplants, from cadaveric and live donors, south of Naples, Italy, and, in the summer of 2001, the first transplant ever carried out in Italy on an HIV-positive patient. Dr. Marino is a member of 26, and the founding member of 3, scientific societies, and has been awarded 59 prizes and public recognitions; he is also a member of the Editorial Board of Transplantation, Liver Transplantation, Digestive Diseases and Sciences and of 15 other international scientific journals. He has authored over 770 scientific publications and 4 scientific books.

Dr. Marino was the Founder and until November 2013 the President of the international not-for-profit organization imagine (Improving Medicine and Growing International Networks of Equality).

Among Marino’s recent scientific interest, his collaboration with the 2012 Nobel Laureate in Economics Alvin Roth and surgeon Michael Rees to implement the so-called Global Kidney Exchange (GKE) program. GKE aims at matching donors and recipients making kidney transplantation possible for patients who face a variety of immunological, regulatory, and financial barriers.

 

Books

In 2005, Einaudi published his book in Italy, entitled “Credere e curare” (Treating and Believing). The book deals with the medical profession and the influence that faith, deemed not only as a religious creed but also as compassion, solidarity, and empathy towards all human beings, has upon it.

In 2007, Ignazio R. Marino edited a monograph on analyses and expectations for the future of the Italian national healthcare system ("Sistema Salute" Solaris ed.).

In 2009 Einaudi published Marino's book on bioethics, faith, and civil rights, entitled "Nelle tue mani" (In your hands).

In 2012, together with Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Dr. Ignazio Marino published the essay "Credere e conoscere" (Believing and knowing), distributed by Einaudi. In the same year, Il Pensiero Scientifico published the book “Passaggi. Storia ed evoluzione del concetto di morte cerebrale” written by Dr. Ignazio Marino, Howard R. Doyle and Giovanni Boniolo, and ASMEPA Edizioni published Marino's book “Il corpo, la malattia, la cura. La cura responsabile”.

In 2016 Feltrinelli published Marino’s memoir on his experience as Mayor of Rome, entitled “Un marziano a Roma” (A martian in Rome).

In 2018, an independent movie entitled “Roma Golpe Capitale” (tr. “Rome Capital Coup”) was produced by Own Air and directed by Francesco Cordio. The movie is an independent documentary that retraces the events that led to the removal of Ignazio Marino as Mayor of Rome, revealing some unpublished background.

 

Work in the Italian Institutions

In April 2006, Dr. Marino was elected Senator of the Republic of Italy. On June 6, 2006, he was appointed Chair of the Standing Health Committee of the Italian Senate (XV legislature). In April 2008, he has been re-elected Senator of the Republic of Italy (XVI legislature) and in October 2008 he has been appointed, within the Senate, Chair of the Investigative Committee on the National Healthcare System.

In April 2013 he won the primary elections becoming the center-left candidate for the position of Mayor of Rome, Italy. In May 2013, therefore, he left his Senate seat, to run for Mayor of Rome.

After leading in the first round, Dr. Marino was elected on June 10, 2013, winning 63.9% of the votes in a run-off against the center-right candidate and out-going Mayor. On June 12, 2013, Dr. Marino officially took office as Mayor of Rome, Italy.

Among Marino's projects, it is worth mentioning the closing of the Via dei Fori Imperiali and Piazza di Spagna to cars and the opening to pedestrian and bicycle traffic only. Mayor Marino cited his experiences as a cyclist in Philadelphia as the foundation for his having learned to live without a car.

On October 18, 2014, Marino registered the marriages of 16 same-sex couples who requested it to the Municipality, which followed similar acts by other Italian mayors. Same-sex marriages and civil unions were illegal in Italy at the time, and by registering the marriages, Mayor Marino hoped to force the hand of national legislators to clarify a deepening legal muddle around same-sex unions particularly for Italians married abroad. Same-sex civil unions were eventually legalized in Italy in 2016.

Upon his election, Marino found Rome on the verge of bankruptcy. In 2013, the city was in the red with a loss of $888 million. Its public transport system had a loss of $951 million. During his mandate, Marino balanced both budgets.

In only 27 months, the administrative work conducted by Mayor Ignazio Marino, strengthening the City's operating performance, was recognized by all International Rating Agencies. In September 2015, Fitch Ratings has revised the Italian City of Rome's Outlook to Stable from Negative and affirmed its Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'BBB' and Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'F2'. The ratings mainly reflect Rome's low direct debt, which we forecast to remain at one-third of the budget.

On 12 October 2015, Marino resigned amidst a fake accusation of expense scandal that had been made by the opposition parties of the M5S Five Star Movement and Fratelli d'Italia (political party), but on 29 October he retired his resignation. Nevertheless, on 30 October he was ousted from his position after 26 of the 48 members of the City Council resigned. He was replaced by a government-appointed commissioner.

On 7 October 2016, the Rome court acquitted Marino over the allegations of embezzlement, fraud, and forgery that had been made by the opposition parties of the M5S Five Star Movement and Fratelli d'Italia (political party) and after which he had stepped down to prove his innocence.

In May 2022, on the idea of Prof. Ignazio R. Marino, in his role as Executive Vice President of Thomas Jefferson University and in collaboration with Roman institutions, the interactive, multi-sensory installation Synesthesia has been exhibited for the first time in Rome, at the Mercati di Traiano. Led by Severino Alfonso and Loukia Tsafoulia of the College of Architecture & the Built Environment’s Synesthetic Research & Design Lab, the spherical “blob” acts as a three-dimensional cinema. The interactive installation is a living organism producing dynamic, unexpected, and sensorial experiences, never static nor predetermined.
Prof. Ignazio Marino noted how the Forum of Trajan was never offered to an artist or institution showcasing a modern sculpture. This idea was supported by the Mayor of Rome and the exhibition’s cost was fully funded by a special grant from the City.

 

Work in the European Parliament

Since the 2024 European Parliament election, Ignazio R. Marino has served as deputy chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group. He is a member of the committee on Budgets, of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, of the Delegation for Relations with the United States, of the Delegation to the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the coordinator of the subcommittee in Public Health, and Substitute for the Delegation to the Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly. He also co-chair the Social Economy Intergroup.