Anna Caterina Milanetto, 33, is a young researcher from Padova and general surgery specialist. She recently won the prestigious international “Sten Tibbling” Prize for the resarch on endocrine tumors at Lund University, the most ancient Swedish university. She graduated at the Padova University and is currently a surgery research associate at Padova Hospital, under the direction of professor Donato Nitti.

Anna Milanetto will now have the chance to deepen her reserach at the renowned Swedish college; starting February, she will work for six months in the Endocrine Surgery ward at Lund University, further researching the field and performing endocrine oncology surgery.

“It is a unique learning opportunity for a young surgeon like me, who aims to acquire the knowlege necessary for an early diagnosis of these rare tumors and the chance of an effective treatment. I am very proud of representing the University of Padova and the Hospital, to whom I owe my education”, commented Milanetto at the local newspaper.

A challenging research

Despite being so young, the reseracher has already gained significant experience while working with professor Claudio Pasquali, pancreatic surgeon and her tutor, and two years ago won a fellowship in Heidelberg, Germany, to carry out pancreatic surgery research. She chose a challenging research field, in which just few doctors reach a high degree of specialization. Professor Pasquali himself explains that “endocrine tumors are extremely rare and different from any other. The start as malignant, but evolve slowly and often they can be treated. The resarch field is quite a niche: doctor Milanetto already started this path in Padova and will continue to follow it in Sweden”

The University of Padova, too, recognizes the achievements of the young surgeon, as you can read in this note on their website:

“This new opportunity for doctor Milanetto, that reinforces an international university partnership, is the result of the excellence of the Paduan surgery and the ability of our young researcher to achieve international recognition that gives us great hope for the future of our medical research.”