Following his graduation in medicine and surgery “Summa cum Laude” from the University of Naples in 1977, Professor Claudio Cortese earned postgraduate degrees in diabetology and metabolic disorders “Summa cum Laude” with clinical and laboratory expertise in the field of clinical nutrition and lipoprotein metabolism. He gained further experience in the biochemical and molecular aspects of lipoproteins under the tutelage of Prof. Barry Lewis of St. Thomas’ hospital Medical School in London where he was appointed as lecturer in chemical pathology and metabolic disorders from 1978 to 1985. As from 1989 to 2000 he is Associate Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" where in 2000 he has aquired a full professorship.
At present he is responsible of the Centre for the study of Arteriosclerosis of this Medical Faculty . His research has included lipoprotein metabolism derangements, clinical molecular biology of
atherosclerosis and its complications, interactions between genetic and environmental factors in the determinism of atherosclerosis and the expression of genes involved in the atherogenic process in in-vitro and ex-vivo cellular models. Professor Cortese is the author of more than 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and text-book chapters. He currently serves as director of the posgraduate specialization school in clinical biochemistry and clinical molecular biology at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.