Andrea Lenzi is the new president of the CNR

Andrea Lenzi, 72, with extensive experience in both medicine and research policy, is the new president of the National Research Council. The largest public research institution is now ready to restart at full speed after a long stalemate that began last April, when former president Maria Chiara Carrozza's term ended, and more than a month after the long-awaited appointments of the three members of the Board of Directors.

"My full confidence in Professor Andrea Lenzi for this extremely prestigious position," said Minister of Universities and Research Anna Maria Bernini, who signed the appointment decree. "I am certain," she added, "that he will fulfill this role with competence and strategic vision, contributing to strengthening the CNR's mission, increasingly at the service of research, innovation, and the country's development."

The minister then thanked Maria Chiara Carrozza "for the work done and the commitment she has shown throughout her term." Discussions between the minister and the scientific community had highlighted in recent months the need for a "necessary effort" to reorganize and enhance the CNR. Also during the unblocking of appointments in early June, it was also clear that particular attention was deserved both to improving technology transfer processes and to the overlapping of responsibilities between the CNR and other research institutions, in order to more effectively use appeals.

Lenzi will therefore face an important and delicate phase in the history of the CNR. He will do so with the experience he has gained in numerous positions in research. He initially ran for president of the CNR in 2020, but at the time the selection process was different, based on objective evaluation criteria. Despite placing first, Lenzi was not nominated.

Born in Bologna on April 20, 1953, Lenzi has lived in Rome since 1957 and graduated in Medicine from Sapienza University of Rome in 1977. He also specialized in Endocrinology at Sapienza in 1980, in Andrology at the University of Pisa in 1983, and in Pathophysiology of Human Reproduction and Demographic Education at the Federico II University of Naples in 1986. He also worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and then at the Burn Hall Clinic in Cambridge and is the author of approximately one thousand scientific publications.

He has held numerous positions in public research, most recently as president of the National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, of the Intercollegiate Committee for the Life Sciences Sector, of the Sapienza School for Advanced Studies, and of the multidisciplinary think tank Health City Institute. He is also director of the UNESCO Chair in Urban Health and spokesperson for the Network of Italian UNESCO Chairs (ReCui). He is a member of the National Committee for Research Evaluation (Cnvr - MUR) and the Scientific Committee of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS). He previously chaired the National University Council and the National Committee of Research Guarantors.