Riccardo Polosa

full professor of internal medicine at the University of Catania and director of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction

Riccardo Polosa is the founder of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the University of Catania. Full professor of internal medicine at the University of Catania with a specialist role as a respiratory physician, clinical immunologist, allergist and rheumatologist, Polosa is the founder of the Institute of Internal and Emergency Medicine at the main teaching hospital of the University of Catania, where he coordinates a large staff of senior physicians, young residents, nurses and administrative clerks. He is also the founder of the Center for Tobacco Research at the same University, where contracted research staff conducts high profile clinical and behavioral research.

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. Nonetheless, over the last 10 years, his main research interest has progressively shifted in the area of tobacco-related diseases, smoking prevention and cessation, tobacco harm reduction and e-vapor products. More specifically, he has been involved in the behavioral, clinical, physiological and toxicological evaluation of e-cigarettes for over six years. PI of the first RCT in the world about effectiveness and tolerability of e-cigarettes (the ECLAT study), he is the most prolific author in the field of e-cigarettes, according to recent bibliometric research. He designed and conducted dozens of research studies, working with smoking cessation specialists, clinical psychologists, experienced vapers, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, chemists, toxicologists and biologists from all over the world. He acts as member of the Scientific Committee of the LIAF (Italian Antismoking League) and serves as external member of the Italian Institute of Health (ISS) Technical Committee on monitoring electronic cigarettes. Already national coordinator for the Italian Working Group on “Electronic cigarettes and e-liquids,” he has been recently elected convenor for the Working Group on “Requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes” within the European Committee for Standardization (CEN/TC 437).