Francesca Tucci,

Permanent Staff Paediatrician, Pediatric Immunohematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Pediatric Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan

Dr. Tucci started her scientific career as an intern student at the Department of Pediatrics, II Policlinico (Naples, Italy) working in laboratory focusing her research on genetics and gene expression studies of coeliac disease in pediatric patients. She graduated in 2010 at the University of Naples Federico II with a thesis entitled “Potential Celiac Patients: A Model of Celiac Disease Pathogenesis” (final grade 110/110 with honors) under the supervision of Prof. L. Greco. Thereafter, she started her Specialization in Pediatrics at the University of Naples, focusing on clinical and technical management of onco-haematological patients and terminal children with extensive experience treating pediatric patients with leukemias and lymphomas at AORN Santobono-Pausilipon Hospital, Naples.

She also practiced medicine in settings of limited resources and management of the most common pediatric tropical diseases and malnutrition in 2014 at Saint Mary’s Hospital Lacor, Uganda where she mainly focused on clinical management of onco-haematological patients and terminal children leading ward rounds, providing clinical care and conducting invasive procedures primarily for Burkitt’s lymphoma treatment.

During the Specialization, she spent 7 months at G. Gaslini Children's Hospital, Genova, under the supervision of Dr. C. Dufour, focusing on clinical management of in and out-patients affected with malignant and non-malignant hematological diseases and research activities in patients with previously unclassified inherited bone marrow failure. In 2016, she completed her Specialization in Pediatric with a thesis under the supervision of Prof. V. Poggi (Title: “Next-Generation Sequencing In Patients With Previously Unclassified Inherited Bone Marrow Failure”; final grade 50/50 cum laude).

In 2016 she moved to the San Raffaele Hospital (Milan, Italy), where she took the position of Consultant Pediatrician at the Immunohematology Unit, under the supervision of prof. A. Aiuti and started her clinical activity on hematopoietic stem cell-gene therapy in pediatric immunodeficiencies and metabolic disorders and on allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in non-malignant disorders.

In 2018 she completed her Master in Pediatric Hematology at University of Rome “Sapienza” with a thesis under the supervision of prof. A. Aiuti (title: “Bone Marrow Hematopoietic Stem Cell Harvesting From Patients Affected By Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Caused By Adenosine Deaminase Deficiency, Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome And Metachromatic Leukodystrophy Undergoing Gene Therapy”).

From 2020 she took the position of Permanent Staff Pediatrician at the Immunohematology Unit.

She is sub-Investigator in several phase I/II gene therapy clinical studies in particular in the protocol “A phase I/II study evaluating safety and efficacy of autologous hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells genetically modified with IDUA lentiviral vector encoding for the human alpha-L-iduronidase gene for the treatment of patients affected by Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I, Hurler variant”. She is also part of the medical investigator staff of several phase I/II and III studies on Duchenne Muscular Distrophy.

Dr. Tucci is the co-author of more than 20 peer-reviewed articles published in international journals and of 1 book chapter. Quantitative parameters of her scientific production in internationaI journals can be detailed as follows: h index (Scopus): 12, Total citations (Scopus): >700.