Alessandro Liberati
Professor of Biostatistics, University of Modena, Italy
Alessandro Liberati is currently Associate Professor of Medical Statistics at the Medical School University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Director of the Italian Cochane Centre.
After his medical degree obtained at the University of Milano Medical School in 1978 Dr. Liberati started his research career as Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology of the Mario Negri Institute in Milano. In 1981 he got his Post-Doctoral Degree in Hygiene and Public Health subsequently spent a training period as Research Fellow at the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston (USA). During his stay (1983-84) in the USA Dr. Liberati was trained in epidemiology and biostatistic with special reference to the methodology of Health Services Research. Upon his return in Italy in 1985 Dr. Liberati concentrated on research in the areas of quality of care assessment in oncology (with special reference to the study of determinants of physicians behavior) and evaluation of the quality and reliability of the scientific literature.
In 1986 he founded a cooperative research group (G.I.V.I.O. Interdisciplinary Group for Cancer Care Evaluation) including 63 general and community hospitals to carry out multicentre controlled trials on the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions as well as studies on quality of care in oncology. In this capacity he also contributed to the diffusion and adoption of standardized tools for quality of life assessment in clinical trials within Italy and coordinated in 1991 a national study aimed at assessing the impact of national guidelines for the treatment of breast, ovarian and colo-rectal cancer.
In 1993 Dr. Liberati spent a sabbatical in the USA serving as Visiting Scholar at RAND Corporation in S. Monica (California) under the direct supervision of Prof. Robert H. Brook. During that period he completed a comprehensive cost-effectiveness study on the different screening, treatment and follow-up modalities for patients with early breast cancer.
In 1996 Dr. Liberati collaborated with the Centre for Review and Dissemination at the University of York to the completion of a project aimed at producing national evidence-based guidelines for purchasers of breast cancer services. Between April 1999 and 2004 he was Scientific Director of the “Centro per la Valutazione della Efficacia della Assistenza Sanitaria” (“CeVEAS”) in Modena.
Since April 2004 he is Consultant for the Research and Innovation Program of the Agenzia Sanitaria Regionale of Regione Emilia Romagna, Bologna.
He is member (since 2005) of the National Committee for Health Research of the Ministry of Health and of the Research & Development Committee of the Italian Drug Agency (AIFA).
Since 2001 he is Scientific Director of the Italian version of Clinical Evidence
Dr. Liberati’s research activities are documented in over 300 scientific publications (of which 197 in English language peer-reviewed journals). He was member of the Editorial Board of British Medical Journal between 1996 and 2000 and served in the Editorial Boards of Annals of Internal Medicine and. He is currently member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and the Journal of Health Services Research and Policy. He is regular Referee for several international medical journals.
Dr. Liberati’s most significant contributions are in the following areas: a) Assessment of the quality of the medical literature; b) Methodology of systematic reviews and metanalysis with particular reference to oncology, cardiovascular diseases, ophthalmology and intensive care medicine; c) Analysis of determinants of compliance to practice guidelines in oncology; d) Methodology for the production and assessment of practice guidelines; e) Assessment of the effectiveness of long-term care interventions.
