Riccardo Polosa MD, PhD, FAAAAI

Riccardo Polosa is a full professor of internal medicine at the University of Catania and the founder of the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction. He also established the Center for Tobacco Research at the University of Catania, where his team conducts high-profile clinical and behavioral research.

His academic research has historically focused on mechanisms of inflammation, biomarkers of disease activity, and novel drug target discovery in respiratory medicine (asthma, COPD, rhinitis) and clinical immunology (allergic and autoimmune diseases). His research group has participated in large EU-funded Pan-European research consortia.

Over the last 15 years, Polosa's research interests have also expanded into tobacco-related diseases, smoking prevention and cessation, and tobacco harm reduction. He has been involved in the behavioral, clinical, physiological, epidemiological, and toxicological evaluation of e-cigarettes for over a decade. Polosa was the principal investigator of the first RCT on the effectiveness and tolerability of e-cigarettes (the ECLAT study) and is recognized as the most prolific author in the field of e-cigarettes, according to recent bibliometric research. He has designed and conducted numerous research studies, collaborating with smoking cessation specialists, clinical psychologists, experienced vapers, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, chemists, toxicologists, and biologists from around the world.

Polosa is a member of the Scientific Committee of LIAF (Italian Anti-Smoking League) and INNCO (International Nicotine Consumer Organization). He has also served as the national coordinator for the Italian Working Group on electronic cigarettes and e-liquids and has been elected convenor for the European Working Group on requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes within the European Committee for Standardization (CEN/TC 437).