General Hospital Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova (ASMN) – Reggio Emilia

Scientific director

Prof. Antonino Neri

The IRCCS in Advanced Technologies and Healthcare Models in Oncology is an Oncology Research Centre within the Local Health Unit of Reggio Emilia.

The IRCCS in Advanced Technologies and Care Models in Oncology of Reggio Emilia (Institute) was founded in 2011 as part of the current Provincial Hospital at the S. Maria Nuova Hospital of Reggio Emilia and is an integral part of the Emilia-Romagna Region Health Service.

The clinical, training and research functions of the IRCCS of Reggio Emilia are located within the Oncology and Advanced Technologies Department, the Health Authority Oncology Network and the Research Laboratories, including the Translational Research Laboratory.

The Oncology and Advanced Technologies Department is formed of a series of operating units and services established by the Operating Regulations, through which it guarantees prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation for oncology and blood cancer cases in adults in hospital (ordinary, day hospital and day surgery) and outpatients (day service). The Institute has 180 beds for oncological diseases, which form part of the approximate 1,500 total beds of the Provincial Hospital.

The Health Authority Oncology Network is comprised of a series of facilities that provide different types and levels of healthcare and social healthcare services in oncology, offering continuous care and an appropriate clinical and organisational approach (offer networks), and also includes the professionals who look after the patient through coordinated collaboration (clinical network).

Care programmes are integrated with services and operating units aimed at palliative care, psychooncology and bioethics which help with the psycho-social, physical and occupational rehabilitation of cancer patients.

The Institute has a strong multidisciplinary approach and has worked over the years to develop structured care patways for cancer patients.

In line with the health authority situation, the IRCCS develops clinical, translational and healthcare research in oncology and blood cancer, with a special focus on assessing new technologies, care models and innovative care programmes.

The Institute’s research can be traced back to three lines of research approved by the Italian Ministry of Health as part of the Three-Year Scientific Programme 2022-2024, described below in terms of their purposes and types.

Line 1: “Clinical research in oncology patients”

This line of research includes observational and experimental qualitative and quantitative projects conducted on patients suffering from solid tumours or blood cancers. These projects are developed within the Institute’s clinical/care pathways and integrate different professional skills and disciplines to allow an overview of the patient in order to develop and assess personalised medicine courses.

This line of research is organised into three programme areas:

  • Application of advanced technologies in establishing diagnosis and prognosis;
  • Assessment of the efficacy of treatments and optimisation strategies;
  • Multidisciplinary approaches to clinical care pathways.

Line 2: “Translational/molecular research in oncology”

The projects in this line of research aim to improve the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind oncological diseases in order to develop new tools for the diagnosis, prognosis and care of patients. Studies will be conducted on the genetic, epigenetic, molecular, metabolic and immunological aspects that have an impact on phenotypic characteristics and on the behaviour of the tumour. These projects feature close integration between molecular and clinical expertise in order to ensure:

  • research purposes aimed at understanding the characteristics of the host and the tumour;
  • the transfer of findings into clinical practice.

Line 3: “Development and evaluation of healthcare services for oncology patients”

This line of research is organised into three programme areas:

  • Analysis and study of individual and environmental health determinants and assessment of the efficacy of health promotion measures and screening;
  • Development and assessment of care models and services;
  • Development and assessment of technologies for health, big data and artificial intelligence, which in addition to assessing the effects of the use of healthcare technologies explores the implications of applying algorithms and big data for health.

The Associates

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