Antonio Malgaroli

Prof. Antonio Malgaroli, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, works at the Clinic for the Treatment of Tourette Syndrome at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Turro. He is a Full Professor of Human Physiology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, where he also serves as President of the Master’s Degree Program in Psychology, a member of the Organizational Committee for the Master’s Degree Program in Cognitive Psychology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University – University of Italian Switzerland (USI-Lugano), and Director of the University Center for the Study of Behavior (International Center for Behavioral Neuroscience) at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University.

In 1985, he graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milan, where, in 1990, he also specialized in Psychiatry. From 1985 to 1989, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Milan. From 1989 to 1993, he moved to the United States, joining Stanford University at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, School of Medicine, where he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

In 1993, he returned to Italy; from 1993 to 2000, he was a Researcher and Head of the Neurobiology of Learning Unit at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute. In 2000, he became a tenured professor at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, initially as an Associate Professor of Human Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, then as a Full Professor in the same faculty from 2004, and finally as a Full Professor in the Faculty of Psychology from 2016. He has also taught at several other institutions: from 1997 to 2009 at the Faculty of Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Milan, from 2017 to 2019 at the Department of Bioengineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, and since 2016 at the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Italian Switzerland (USI-Lugano).

Regarding his clinical practice, at the beginning of his career, he worked at the Policlinico Hospital, where he completed his Psychiatry specialization. In later years, he also specialized in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Since 2016, his clinical activity has been conducted on an outpatient basis and in the private solvent ward at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Turro. Combining pharmacological approaches with psychotherapeutic methods and other innovative therapies, his clinical interest spans a wide range of psychological and psychopathological dysfunctions within the psychiatric spectrum. His primary focus is on Gilles de la Tourette syndrome and its comorbidities, such as ADHD and obsessive-compulsive disorder, all of which are highly prevalent conditions.

As for his research activity, Prof. Malgaroli's interests focus on the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and metaplasticity in the brain and their functional and maladaptive implications. Abnormalities in these processes are at the root of many neuropsychiatric conditions, including Tourette Syndrome. Specifically, his research investigates compensatory processes, such as those induced by therapies (both pharmacological and psychotherapeutic), and the development of innovative techniques for diagnosis and treatment.

Over the years, he has received multiple international awards and recognitions; in 2000, he was elected a member of EMBO.