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Born in Carrara, he graduated with honors in medicine and surgery in 1990 from the University of Pisa, where he later completed two specializations: one in abdominal surgery and one in surgical digestive endoscopy. He then carried out part of his training in the USA, at the Cabrini Medical Center in New York, where he also obtained his medical qualification.
He later became a full professor of general surgery at the University of Pisa, in the Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, and became the director of the Complex Unit of General Surgery and Transplants at the University Hospital of Pisa. Additionally, he is also an associate professor of general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.
He performed the first-ever isolated pancreas transplant with a robot and the first pediatric transplant from a living adult donor ever performed in Italy. He is known for creating certain techniques that have been adopted as international standards by the medical and scientific community and is also the president of the Italian Society of Organ Transplants (SITO).
In 2010, he performed the world’s first robotic pancreas transplant and, in the same year, a simultaneous robotic kidney and pancreas transplant. He also carried out a right robotic hepatectomy for adult-to-adult transplant purposes in 2012 and a selective distal spleno-renal shunt for the treatment of portal hypertension in 2013.
In Europe, he performed the first simultaneous living donor kidney transplant and deceased donor pancreas transplant in 2001, and the first robotic kidney transplant in 2010. In Italy, he became known for experimenting with cross-over kidney transplantation (3 pairs) in 2005, robotic kidney donation for transplant purposes in 2008, single-access laparoscopic kidney donation for transplant in 2010, and laparoscopic liver donation for adult-to-child transplant from a living donor in the same year.
He organized the “First World Consensus Conference on Pancreas Transplantation” from October 17 to 19 in Pisa, bringing together leading experts from around the world to define international guidelines for the application of this important therapeutic option.
He also organized the National Congress of the Italian Society of Surgery, which had not been held in Pisa for 118 years.
He is the Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Transplantation.
On November 27, 2024, he received the High Civic Merit award in Carrara.
On December 20, 2024, he was awarded the title of Commendatore.