Sono nato a Roma il 28 ottobre 1969. Nel 1996 ho conseguito la laurea in Scienze Statistiche ed Economiche all'Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza". Successivamente, nel 2003, ho conseguito il Master Universitario di II Livello in Epidemiologia preso l'Università di Torino e nel 2023 il PhD alla University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Il 1 ottobre 2020 ho preso servizio in qualità di ricercatrice a tempo determinato di tipo b) nel settore scientifico disciplinare MEDS-24/A (ex MED/01) – Statistica Medica – presso il Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni “G. Parenti”, dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze.
Precedentemente ho svolto la mia attività di ricerca in ambito accademico in UK; dal gennaio 2016 al settembre 2020 come Research Fellow, alla London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, Social and Environmental Health Research, e dal settembre 2009 al dicembre 2015 come Senior Research Associate in Statistics, Life Course Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Population, Policy and Practice, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London.
Precedentemente, nel periodo settembre 1996-agosto 2009, avevo svolto la mia attività di ricerca come ricercatore in ambito epidemiologico in due diverse istituzioni; dal dicembre 2004 all’agosto 2009 presso l’I.S.P.O, Firenze e dal settembre 1996 al novembre 2003 presso l’Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata IRCCS, Roma.
La mia attività di ricerca in questi anni ha riguardato vari aspetti dell’analisi statistica di dati epidemiologici e biomedici. In particolare, tra gli altri
• Analisi statistica per lo studio di fattori di rischio (ambientali e genetici) dei tumori della cute, mammella e stomaco.
• Analisi statistica per lo studio di fattori prognostici nei tumori della cute, mammella, stomaco e polmone.
• Analisi dei dati per la validità e riproducibilità delle misurazioni cliniche.
• Meta-analisi con applicazioni e sviluppi metodologici.
• Analisi dei dati e sviluppi metodologici per la stima degli effetti a breve termine di esposizioni ambientali su outcome sanitari.
I risultati dell’attività di ricerca sono stati pubblicati in 222articoli (fonte Scopus) su riviste internazionali (tra cui New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, Lancet Planetary health) e comunicati a convegni nazionali e internazionali.
Tra gli indicatori adottati e riconosciuti dalla comunità scientifica si riportano i valori presenti sul database citazionale Scopus: 1) H-index: 67, 2) Numero di citazioni: 18,033.
In particolare negli ultimi anni la mia attività di ricerca si è concentrata su tre tematiche principali:
Molte delle attività di ricerca sono stata svolta in collaborazione con lo studio Multi-Country-Multi-City (MCC). In questo studio sono stati collezionati le serie storiche di esposizioni ambientali (temperature, umidità relativa, inquinanti ambientali come PM10, PM25, NO2, O3) per più id 730 città in 43 paesi. Questo ricco dataset e la collaborazione con ricercatori di tutto il mondo ha consentito di affrontare studi multi-centro volti a valutare gli effetti a breve termine di esposizioni ambientali e di definire degli sviluppi metodologici per la definizione di misure di associazione nell’ambito degli studi multi-centro. Un’importante area di ricerca sviluppata in questo ambito è stata l’analisi dei fattori ambientali legati all’insorgenza del COVID-19.
Legenda
I was born in Rome on October 28, 1969. In 1996 I graduated in Statistical and Economic Sciences at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". Subsequently, in 2003, I obtained a Master's Degree in Epidemiology at the University of Turin and in 2023 a PhD at the University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
On October 1, 2020, I began working as a fixed-term researcher of type b) in the scientific disciplinary sector MEDS-24/A (formerly MED/01) – Medical Statistics – at the Department of Statistics, Computer Science, Applications “G. Parenti”, of the University of Florence.
Previously, I carried out my research activity in the academic field in the UK; from January 2016 to September 2020 as a Research Fellow, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, Social and Environmental Health Research, and from September 2009 to December 2015 as a Senior Research Associate in Statistics, Life Course Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Population, Policy and Practice, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London.
Previously, in the period September 1996-August 2009, I had carried out my research activity as a researcher in epidemiology in two different institutions; from December 2004 to August 2009 at the I.S.P.O, Florence and from September 1996 to November 2003 at the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata IRCCS, Rome.
Nationality: Italian
Date and place of birth: 28th October 1969, Rome (Italy)
Address: Via Augusto Camerini, 50, Roma
Tel: +39 3453536926 (mobile)
E-mail: francesco.sera@unifi.it
Education
Feb 2023
PhD in Public Health, University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. PhD thesis: “An extended random-effects framework for complex meta-analysis, with applications in environmental epidemiology.”. Supervisor: Prof Antonio Gasparrini.
Jan 2004
MSc in Epidemiology, I.S.I Foundation & University of Turin. Final grade: 110/110 cum laude. Final thesis: “Meta-analysis of observational studies: an application on risk factors of cutaneous melanoma.”. Supervisor: Prof Annibale Biggeri; Co-Supervisor: Dr. Roberto Zanetti.
July 1996
MSc in Statistics, University of Rome. Final grade: 110/110 cum laude. Degree Thesis: “Chaos theory and economic models”. Supervisor: Prof. Claudio Sardoni; Co-Supervisor: Prof. Marco Lippi.
Advanced courses
2018
Introduction to QGIS: Understanding and Presenting Spatial Data and Confident Spatial Analysis in QGIS. Farr Institute London.
2017-2018
Academy for PhD Training in Statistics (APTS). University of Cambridge, University of Southampton.
2010
Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London UK.
2009
Structural Equation Models: an introduction. University of Cassino, Italy.
2007
Statistical Design and Analysis of Genetic Epidemiology. European Educational Programme in Epidemiology, Florence, Italy.
Functional genomics; principles of statistics: course on statistical methods for genomics data analysis. University of Florence, Italy.
2006
Bayesian analysis, MCMC and WinBUGS. MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge, UK.
2004
Human population genetics and genetic epidemiology. University of Rome, Italy.
Repeated measures data analysis. University of Florence, Italy.
1997
Applications of the Case-Control method. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
Intermediate Biostatistics. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
Work experience
Current positions
Oct 2023-Ongoing
Associate Professor, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni “Giuseppe Parenti”, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Oct 2020-Sept 2023
Research Fellow, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni “Giuseppe Parenti”, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Oct 2020-ongoing
Honorary Research Fellow, London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, Social and Environmental Health Research, London, UK.
Previous positions
Jan 2016-Sept 2020
Research Fellow, London School of Hygiene &Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, Social and Environmental Health Research, London, UK.
Sep 2009-Dec 2015
Senior Research Associate in Statistics, Life Course Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Population, Policy and Practice, Institute of Child Health, University College London, London UK.
Dec 2004-Aug 2009
Research fellow in statistics, Molecular and nutritional epidemiological unit, I.S.P.O. Centre for Study and Cancer Prevention, Florence Italy.
Sep 1996-Nov 2004
Research fellow in statistics, Clinical Epidemiology Unit Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata IRCCS, Rome Italy.
Research interests and topics
H index (scopus): 67
Main research interest: statistical methodology applied to epidemiological studies.
Specific interests: statistical modelling, epidemiological study designs, meta-analysis.
Expertise: statistical methods in analytic epidemiology (case-control, cohort and cross sectional studies, time-series), applied in clinical, cancer, molecular and environmental epidemiology.
Other research activities
Peer-review activity for highly-ranked scientific journals (Carcinogenesis, Pediatrics, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, BMC Public Health, BMJ Open, Lancet Planetary Health, Epidemiolofy, International Journal of Epidemiology) and funding institutions (National Institute for Health Research-Programme Grants for Applied Research).
Research degree supervision
Jan 2013-Jan2015
MSc candidate: Giuliana Gargano. Project: Dietary intervention study in breast cancer patients at risk of recurrences: Preliminary results on the effect of dietary changes on risk parameters. MSc in Epidemiology, I.S.I Foundation & University of Turin, Italy.
Jan 2011-Jan2013
MSc candidate: Eleonora Bruno. Project: A case–control study on IGF-I and hereditary breast cancer. MSc in Epidemiology, I.S.I Foundation & University of Turin, Italy.
Jan 2009-Jan2011
MSc candidate: Fulvio Ricceri. Project: Skin cancer and occupational exposure within ELIOS study. MSc in Epidemiology, I.S.I Foundation & University of Turin, Italy.
Teaching
2020-ongoing
Lecturer in the module Advanced Topic In Epidemiology, “Master in Epidemiology”, University of Turin.
Lecturer in the module Data Science for Health, “Master in Data Science”, University of Florence.
Lecturer in the module Basic Statistics, “Health Sciences Degree courses”, University of Florence.
2017-2019
Practical Group leader in the module Introduction to Statistical Computing”, “Master course in Medical Statistics” LSHTM
Lecturer and practical group leader in the module Basic Statistics, “Master course in Public Health” LSHTM.
2001-2003
Lecturer in the Medical Statistics module. Medical school, Universita’ di Tor Vergara, Rome, Italy.
2000
Practical Group leader in the Intermediate Biostatistics course. IDI IRCSS, Rome Italy.
Practical Group leader in the Advanced Clinical Epidemiology course. IDI IRCSS, Rome Italy.
Technical skills
Areas of expertise: statistical methods in analytic epidemiology (case-control, cohort, cross sectional and time-series studies), applied in different research areas (clinical, cancer and environmental epidemiology).
Statistical methods: general and generalised linear models, multilevel models, meta-analytical methods.
Statistical software: excellent knowledge of R and Stata, basic knowledge of WinBUGS, SAS, SPSS, MLwiN and Matlab.
Programming and software packaging: good knowledge of the programming techniques in R and Stata, basic knowledge of SAS programming.
Text formatting and data management: good knowledge of LaTeX and Office
Reference manager software: good knowledge of JabRef and EndNote.
Languages: good spoken and written English, Italian native speaker.
Membership
Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society since 2010.
Awards
First prize in the abstract competition at the symposium ‘Research on Physical Activity in London: From laboratory to environmental and population studies’, organised jointly by UCL’s Physical Activity Research Group (PARG) and the Population Health Domain, 2011, London, UK.
My research activity in recent years has concerned various aspects of statistical analysis of epidemiological and biomedical data. In particular, among others
• Statistical analysis for the study of risk factors (environmental and genetic) of skin, breast and stomach cancers.
• Statistical analysis for the study of prognostic factors in skin, breast, stomach and lung cancers.
• Data analysis for the validity and reproducibility of clinical measurements.
• Meta-analysis with applications and methodological developments.
• Data analysis and methodological developments for the estimation of the short-term effects of environmental exposures on health outcomes.
The results of the research activity have been published in 222 articles (source Scopus) in international journals (including New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, Lancet Planetary health) and communicated at national and international conferences.
Among the indicators adopted and recognized by the scientific community, the values present in the Scopus citation database are reported: 1) H-index: 67, 2) Number of citations: 18,033.
In particular, in recent years my research activity has focused on three main topics: Measurement of short-term effects of environmental exposures, Methodological developments on meta-analysis, Measurement of the impact of climate change on health Many of the research activities have been carried out in collaboration with the Multi-Country-Multi-City (MCC) study. In this study, historical series of environmental exposures (temperatures, relative humidity, air pollutants such as PM10, PM25, NO2, O3) were collected for more than 730 cities in 43 countries. This rich dataset and the collaboration with researchers from all over the world has allowed us to undertake multi-center studies aimed at evaluating the short-term effects of environmental exposures and to define methodological developments for the definition of association measures in multi-center studies. An important area of research developed in this context has been the analysis of environmental factors linked to the onset of COVID-19.
