Mission Statement

To Improve the Quality of Life for Each Person

Research applied to treatment

My mission is to heal the person in need of the most sophisticated and complex treatments, to continue and update research, and to contribute to defining and resolving the health problems of persons and the community.

I would take, whether national or international in scope, to disseminate information regarding prevention, diagnosis, and treatments through our education programs.

I operate on the inspiration of two principles:

The first is the holistic approach, that is healing the person, in their entirety and with dignity in each and every phase, even the most difficult, that of one’s own existence, in order to bring back improvement to the quality of life.

The second is the continuation and updating of research as the only possibilities to be able to offer not only a treatment, but the most appropriate treatment, scientifically validated, and thus adapted to individual characteristics and cases.

Clinical Care

In my current role, I provide direct clinical care on an average annual basis for approximately 4000 patients of widely varying cultural/ethnic backgrounds across the age spectrum spectrum at the University hospital and at my research assessment center. All of the work that I do originates from a pure passion to offer the best therapeutic option for each person aiming to their recovery and my everlasting aspiration to disentangle complex and difficult cases. In my view, this work is extremely rewarding, particularly because it may lead to new ideas for clinical research, and at the same time, represents an outstanding source of didactic stimulus for my residents and students. 

I receive patient referrals from all around Italy and across the globe, including other European countries, UK, USA, Russia, Middle East, Japan and China. Many of these patients have not previously received adequate or appropriate clinical care treated properly, and especially appreciate the fact that I take into close consideration the individual’s multidisciplinary medical data, objective and subjective symptoms, and behaviors, as well as cultural background, in order to treat the patient as a whole rather than just disorder-oriented. My skill set ranges from the use of all neuromodulation methods (rTMS, tDCS, DBS, light therapy, VNS), psychodiagnostic assessment tools, biofeedback, and CBT.

More recently, my clinical work in Italy has focused on interventional psychiatry utilizing neuromodulation. I have established the first European treatment center integrating CBT with TMS for impulse control disorders, as well as Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), repetitive TMS, Vagal Nerve Stimulation, and neuroimmunology applied to psychiatric disorders, including pediatric acute onset disorders, Lyme disease, Neuro Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and Behcet’s Disease. This neuromodulation center is one of the most prominent in Europe, and already treated more than 1200 patients.

As a leader in the Psychosomatic Unit at the University Hospital in Careggi, Florence, I organized three innovative sub-clinics for PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Disorders Associated with Streptococcus), ADHD and rTMS treatment. In 2001, I organized a treatment and research center for pathological gambling disorder and behavioral addictions, and the first European Center for PANDAS infections and PANDAS-like disorders. I also direct the Center for ADHD, which is recognized by the Italian Society of Psychiatry as the leading center for ADHD. In addition to the assessment and treatment of patients with ADHD, the Center provides under my supervision assessment and treatment for people with movement disorders, Tourette Syndrome, Parkinson’s Disease, and traumatic brain injury in whom comorbid ADHD is suspected.

As a Professor at UC Davis (2013-2014), I worked in the Early Diagnosis and Preventing Psychosis Treatment program, which focuses on treatment of patients in prodromal or early stages of psychosis. I also served in the Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry Service at the UC Davis Medical Hospital, and helped in the development and practice of telepsychiatry interviewing (with Professor Peter Yellowlees).