Mario MARZILLI has been Professor and Chairman of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cardiothoracic Department of Pisa University Medical School (Italy) since 2007. He is also Director of the Post-Graduate School of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pisa (from 2010). Mario Marzilli graduated in Medicine and Surgery with full honors at Pisa University Medical School in 1971 and started as a Research Fellow of the Italian National Research Council in Pisa. He began his academic career as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Pisa University Medical School in 1977 and progressed to Associate Professor of Clinical Physiology and Internal Medicine in 1986. From 2000 to 2006, Professor Marzilli was Full Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Chairman of the Postgraduate School of Cardiology at the University of Siena, and visiting Professor of Cardiovascular Research at the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit (Michigan, USA) in the years 1977-78. Mario Marzilli is a member of several scientific societies, including the Societa Italiana di Cardiologia, European Society of Cardiology, American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association. His research is focused on coronary pathophysiology, interventional cardiology, ischemic heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, clinical pharmacology and hypertension. He has published more than 450 scien-tific papers and has edited books on invasive cardiology, coronary physi-ology, and cardiovascular therapy. Professor Marzilli reviews papers submitted for publication to Italian Heart Journal, European Heart Journal, Heart, Journal of the American Col-lege of Cardiology, Circulation, Basic Research in Cardiology, International Journal of Cardiology, and American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs.