Recent from talks
Roberto Burioni
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Roberto Burioni
Roberto Burioni (born 10 December 1962) is an Italian virologist, physician, and academic. A Professor of Microbiology and Virology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, he runs there a lab developing human monoclonal antibodies against human infectious agents, the study of pathogen-host interplay, and the use of molecular tools in the early diagnosis of infectious diseases. A prominent virologist, Burioni has risen to fame in Italy for his strong stance against the antivaccination movement and has been described as the "most famous virologist in Italy".
After graduating from the Liceo Classico Raffaello in Urbino, Burioni received his Medical Degree from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Medical School in Rome and a Ph.D. in Microbiological Sciences from the University of Genoa. He attended the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Wistar Institute of the University of Pennsylvania as a visiting student in the laboratory of Hilary Koprowski and Carlo Maria Croce. He has been a visiting scientist at both the Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of California, San Diego, and at the Scripps Research Institute. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the Medical School of Rome's Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in 1995, before moving to Assistant Professor in Virology at the Medical School of the University of Ancona in 1999.
Burioni moved to the medical school at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan in 2004, first as an Associate Professor and later as Full Professor of Microbiology and Virology. In 2010, he took the role of Director of the Board Specialty School of Microbiology and Virology which he held until 2017.
Burioni is an active campaigner against the antivaccination movement and rose to fame in Italy after an appearance on the TV talk show Virus in 2016, on the national TV channel Rai 2. The majority of the segment was given to Red Ronnie, a DJ, and former actress Eleonora Brigliadori, both of whom hold antivaccination positions. Burioni was left with only a few minutes in which to rebut the misinformation. In response, Burioni posted to Facebook giving his version of the facts. The post was read by over 5 million people in one day. The TV show "Virus" was eventually canceled at the end of the season. Since then he has developed a large following on social media with almost 480,000 followers on Facebook and over 114,000 followers on Twitter.
In 2017, Burioni authored the book Il vaccino non è un'opinione: Le vaccinazioni spiegate a chi proprio non le vuole capire ("The Vaccine Is Not an Opinion: Vaccinations, Explained to Those Who Just Do Not Want to Understand Them"), which won the 2017 Asimov Award, an annual award established by the Gran Sasso Science Institute of L'Aquila awarded to books of science dissemination published in Italy during the previous year. In 2018, Burioni, along with several colleagues, created the website Medical Facts. Articles on the site are written by medical scientists, doctors, and other health professionals with the intent of promoting news and advice on a range of health issues.
In January 2019, Burioni launched a Pact for Science, calling on all Italian political parties to sign on and pledge to follow five points: to support science as a universal value of progress and humanity; to refuse to support or tolerate pseudoscience, pseudomedicine, and any treatments that are not based on scientific and medical evidence; to prevent pseudoscientists from creating unjustified alarm regarding health care interventions that have been scientifically and medically demonstrated to be safe; to implement programs designed to correctly inform the public about science, using experts in their fields; and to ensure that scientific research is adequately supported in terms of public financing. Many politicians signed the pledge, including Beppe Grillo, founder of the Five Star Movement, a party that has strong ties to the antivaccination movement.
In January 2020, an article about Burioni was published in the news section of the journal Science, which reviewed his public outreach activities and celebrated his fight against anti-vaccination movements, presenting him as the person who has fought the most for the accuracy of medical-scientific information in Italy in recent years.
In March 2021, a comprehensive article was dedicated to him in the international magazine Foreign Policy, where he was described as the Italian Dr. Fauci.
Hub AI
Roberto Burioni AI simulator
(@Roberto Burioni_simulator)
Roberto Burioni
Roberto Burioni (born 10 December 1962) is an Italian virologist, physician, and academic. A Professor of Microbiology and Virology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, he runs there a lab developing human monoclonal antibodies against human infectious agents, the study of pathogen-host interplay, and the use of molecular tools in the early diagnosis of infectious diseases. A prominent virologist, Burioni has risen to fame in Italy for his strong stance against the antivaccination movement and has been described as the "most famous virologist in Italy".
After graduating from the Liceo Classico Raffaello in Urbino, Burioni received his Medical Degree from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Medical School in Rome and a Ph.D. in Microbiological Sciences from the University of Genoa. He attended the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Wistar Institute of the University of Pennsylvania as a visiting student in the laboratory of Hilary Koprowski and Carlo Maria Croce. He has been a visiting scientist at both the Center for Molecular Genetics at the University of California, San Diego, and at the Scripps Research Institute. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the Medical School of Rome's Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in 1995, before moving to Assistant Professor in Virology at the Medical School of the University of Ancona in 1999.
Burioni moved to the medical school at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan in 2004, first as an Associate Professor and later as Full Professor of Microbiology and Virology. In 2010, he took the role of Director of the Board Specialty School of Microbiology and Virology which he held until 2017.
Burioni is an active campaigner against the antivaccination movement and rose to fame in Italy after an appearance on the TV talk show Virus in 2016, on the national TV channel Rai 2. The majority of the segment was given to Red Ronnie, a DJ, and former actress Eleonora Brigliadori, both of whom hold antivaccination positions. Burioni was left with only a few minutes in which to rebut the misinformation. In response, Burioni posted to Facebook giving his version of the facts. The post was read by over 5 million people in one day. The TV show "Virus" was eventually canceled at the end of the season. Since then he has developed a large following on social media with almost 480,000 followers on Facebook and over 114,000 followers on Twitter.
In 2017, Burioni authored the book Il vaccino non è un'opinione: Le vaccinazioni spiegate a chi proprio non le vuole capire ("The Vaccine Is Not an Opinion: Vaccinations, Explained to Those Who Just Do Not Want to Understand Them"), which won the 2017 Asimov Award, an annual award established by the Gran Sasso Science Institute of L'Aquila awarded to books of science dissemination published in Italy during the previous year. In 2018, Burioni, along with several colleagues, created the website Medical Facts. Articles on the site are written by medical scientists, doctors, and other health professionals with the intent of promoting news and advice on a range of health issues.
In January 2019, Burioni launched a Pact for Science, calling on all Italian political parties to sign on and pledge to follow five points: to support science as a universal value of progress and humanity; to refuse to support or tolerate pseudoscience, pseudomedicine, and any treatments that are not based on scientific and medical evidence; to prevent pseudoscientists from creating unjustified alarm regarding health care interventions that have been scientifically and medically demonstrated to be safe; to implement programs designed to correctly inform the public about science, using experts in their fields; and to ensure that scientific research is adequately supported in terms of public financing. Many politicians signed the pledge, including Beppe Grillo, founder of the Five Star Movement, a party that has strong ties to the antivaccination movement.
In January 2020, an article about Burioni was published in the news section of the journal Science, which reviewed his public outreach activities and celebrated his fight against anti-vaccination movements, presenting him as the person who has fought the most for the accuracy of medical-scientific information in Italy in recent years.
In March 2021, a comprehensive article was dedicated to him in the international magazine Foreign Policy, where he was described as the Italian Dr. Fauci.
Recent media