Riccardo Valdagni

Professor Riccardo Valdagni is an Oncology Radiotherapy specialist currently practicing at Casa di Cura La Madonnina in Milan.

He graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Bologna in 1979 and specialized in Oncology Radiotherapy at the University of Padua in 1984. In 2001, he earned a diploma in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from "Il Ruolo Terapeutico" in Milan. In 2014, he completed a managerial training program for Complex Structure Directors at Polis Lombardia and obtained the national scientific qualification for university professorships in Oncology Radiotherapy (MED/36). From 2016 to 2022, he served as an Associate Professor in Oncology Radiotherapy at the Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology at the University of Milan.

From 1988 to 2003, Professor Valdagni directed the Oncology Radiotherapy Department at Casa di Cura San Pio X in Milan. Between 2003 and 2022, he was the Director of the Prostate Program and Head of the Prostate Cancer Unit at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan. He also led the Department of Oncology Radiotherapy at the same institute from 2011 to 2022.

Throughout his career, he has gained international clinical and research experience at institutions such as Oxford Clinical Medical School (UK), Stanford University School of Medicine (USA), University of Utah in Salt Lake City (USA), University of California in San Francisco (USA), Washington University in St. Louis, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

He is a member of numerous national and international scientific societies, including the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the European Association of Urology (EAU), the Italian Association of Oncology Radiotherapy (AIRO), the Italian Society of Urology (SIU), the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), and the Italian Society of Oncologic Urology (SIUrO), where he served as President from 2015 to 2018.

Over the past two decades, Professor Valdagni has focused his clinical and research interests on prostate cancer, exploring epidemiological, biological, therapeutic, observational, psycho-oncological, and experimental aspects. He has promoted an integrated, multidisciplinary, and patient-centered approach in Italy and Europe.

In 2004, Italy's first Prostate Cancer Unit was established at the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan. In 2005, one of Europe's first Active Surveillance programs for clinically indolent prostate tumors was launched, aiming to prevent unnecessary curative treatments and potential side effects for these patients.

Since the late 1990s, Professor Valdagni and his team have concentrated their research in prostate radiotherapy on predicting, modeling, and reducing potential radiation side effects to improve the quality of life for long-term survivors.

Professor Valdagni has 269 peer-reviewed international publications (H-index 46 - Scopus).