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About Dr. Ventafridda
VITTORIO VENTAFRIDDA was born in the northern Italian city of Udine, graduated at Pavia's Medical University in 1952 he spent four years in the U.S.A. where he did his internship and then took up a residency training as an anaesthesiologist at the Research and Educational Hospital of the University of Illinois in Chicago. Back in Milan he was in charge of the anaesthesiology dept. at the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori and later he was appointed Director of the Palliative Care Unit. In the early 70's in Seattle, he was one of the founders of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). In the year 1977 professor Ventafridda together with Virgilio Floriani founded the Floriani Foundation, whose aim is to assist and help terminally hill patients, and took the position of Scientific Director of the same Foundation.
In the 80's, with the help of Floriani Foundation he launched a programme for the continuing care at home of the terminally ill patients which expanded to 14 other Institutions and became a point of reference for WHO's Cancer Pain Relief Program. One of the things he is most proud of is having been one of the principal authors of WHO's analgesic ladder on cancer pain management which has been translated into more than 28 languages and it is applied worldwide.
Most of Prof. Ventafridda's activities were then focussed on the promotion of palliative care throughout Europe. In order to do that, he founded and directed the Italian and European Association as well as a school on Palliative Care. Prof. Ventafridda is the author of more than 250 publications mostly on pain control, quality of life measurements and palliative care. He is also an active member of 3 International Scientific Societies, 10 Editorial Boards and co- editor of 4 important books.
He is presently :
* Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre in Cancer Control and Palliative Care at the European Institute of Oncology of Milan
* Fellow of Royal College of Physicians
* Honorary President of the European Association for Palliative Care
* Scientific Director of the Floriani Foundation
* President of the Italian School for Palliative Medicine
About Dr. De Simone
Gustavo G. De Simone, Prof of Palliative Care (Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires. Argentina)
Dr. De Simone was born in 1955 in Puerto Santa Cruz (Argentina) and earned his medical degree at Universidad de Buenos Aires, completing in 1982 post-graduate specialization in Medical Oncology. In the mid eighties he becamed involved in Palliative Care and developed the Palliative Care Programme at the Cancer Section of Hospital Bonorino Udaondo - where he is still working and the programme has become a model of integrated palliative care in oncology services.
In 1995 he got the Diploma in Palliative Medicine and afterwards he got the MSc (University of Wales College of Medicine); since 1998 he is Professor at Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires (Chair of Palliative Care, Superior Career of Medical Oncology).
He is one of founding members of Argentinean Association for Palliative Care and also Medical Director of Pallium Latinoamerica (non goverment organization devoted to education and research in Palliative Care). He also leads the Hostal de Malta Palliative Care Programme supported by Knights of Malta in Argentina, providing palliative home care for disadvantaged people who do not received this care from the public services in Buenos Aires (Day Centre Care included).
He has been an active participant in the Argentinean Society of Clinical Oncology and the Latin American School of Bioethics (Mainetti Foundation). Dr. De Simone has also contributed to the National Ministry of Health in Argentina as a member of its Palliative Care Advisory Board. He is a regional member of the Oxford International Centre for Palliative Care and regional editor of the Progress in Palliative Care journal.
Since 1992 he has been highly involved in Undergraduate and Postgraduate educational work in the field of Palliative Care, not only in Argentina but the rest of Latin America. He is part of Palled International Educational Initiative and promotes multiprofessional training on Palliative Care, Hospice and End of Life care, contributing to the implementation of many initiatives and providing training support to the members of the teams in this region of the world.
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