Epidemiologist & Physician
Michele Carugno is an Occupational Physician and Epidemiologist with a distinguished academic career and significant contributions to research on the health effects of air pollution.
He earned his Medical Degree from the University of Milan, followed by a specialization in Occupational Medicine and a PhD in Epidemiology, Environment, and Public Health.
He has held positions as a Research Fellow and later as a Researcher at the Department of Clinical and Community Sciences, University of Milan, and served as Medical Officer (in agreement) at the Occupational Medicine Unit – Epidemiology Section at Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico.
He further enriched his international experience through an internship at the International Labour Office in Geneva, Switzerland, where he worked as an Intern in Occupational Health and as an Occupational Safety and Health Technical Officer, contributing to the drafting of the Guidance Notes for Diagnostic Criteria and Prevention of Occupational Diseases.
His research has focused on the effects of occupational exposures and environmental exposures on vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, and obese individuals. He has contributed to studies on the association between hormone therapies and lung cancer risk, the effects of psychosocial factors on musculoskeletal disorders in working populations, and the impact of air pollution on the health of the Lombardy population through the ESSIA project.
He is the Principal Investigator of the DeprAir study, which investigates the hypothesis that exposure to air pollution may worsen the course of Major Depressive Disorder by triggering biological changes related to poor air quality.
Recently, he was awarded the “Antonio Feltrinelli Giovani” Prize for Epidemiology by the Accademia dei Lincei, in recognition of his innovative research in occupational, environmental, molecular, and epigenetic epidemiology focusing on the relationships between exposure indicators and health outcomes in populations exposed to environmental pollutants.
Within the MAMELI project, Michele Carugno will contribute his extensive expertise in molecular and occupational epidemiology, with a focus on air pollution.