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For Better Public Health and Healthcare: Multidisciplinary Solutions
Montecatini Terme, Tuscany (Italy), 13-15 March 2026
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Prof. Italo Pardo, MSc, PhD, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Kent, UK, and President of the International Urban Symposium-IUS.Read more
Italo Pardo is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Kent, Elected Academician of the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and President of the International Urban Symposium-IUS. In the late 1900s he pioneered research on legitimacy (e.g., Morals of Legitimacy: Between Agency and System, 2000; Legitimacy: Methodological and Theoretical Insights, 2019; On Legitimacy: Multidisciplinary Reflections, 2019), which ramified into research on legal and illegal corruption in the health system (Where it hurts: an Italian case of graded and stratified corruption and Between Morality and the Law, 2004). Over the years, this research has evolved through a large body of peer-reviewed publications, culminating in works such as A Social Anthropologist in Lockdown (2020), Healthcare and Public Health: Questions of Legitimacy (2022); The Legitimacy of Healthcare and Public Health: Anthropological Perspectives and Misgovernance Kills: Italian Evidence and On Legitimacy and Healthcare and Public Safety (2023). Recently, Prof. Pardo has focused on inequality in the field of public health and healthcare (e.g., Forms of Inequality and the Legitimacy of Governance, 2024; Unequal Italians and An Anthropologist’s Viewpoint on the Misgovernance of Public Health and Healthcare, 2025). Professor Pardo has lectured worldwide, and his work has been translated into Russian, Greek, Chinese and French. He co-edits the Series “Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology”. He established and co-edits the journal Urbanities. His profile and select publications are available at https://italopardo.wordpress.com.
Prof. Giuliana B. Prato, PhD, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Kent, UK, and Secretary-Treasurer of the International Urban Symposium-IUS.Read more
Giuliana B. Prato was trained in Sociology (Laurea, old system, Naples, Italy) and Social Anthropology (London, UK). She has done research in Italy, Albania, England and France on socio-economic policies, the legitimacy of governance, citizenship, inequalities, environmental impact on health, and, more recently, healthcare and public health policies, and the ethical and socio-economic implications of digital technologies and AI applications in health. Dr Prato co-convened the Workshop on “Legitimacy: The Right to Health”, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Workshop on “Public Health and Healthcare”, and the one-day seminar on “Legitimacy and medical practice: ethnographic approaches” (University of Kent). Her recent publications include the co-edited volumes The Legitimacy of Healthcare and Public Health (2023) and Healthcare and Public Health: Questions of Legitimacy (special issue of Urbanities, 2022, Vol.12, Suppl.6); the special issue on City Life and Beyond in Times of Pandemic (Urbanities, 2020, Vol.10, Suppl.4); and book chapters and articles on Inequality and the Era of e-Governance: The Pandemic Emergency as a Watershed (2025), Health Inequalities and Ethics of Responsibility: A Comparative Ethnography (2022), Healthcare Ethics in Urban Europe: Between Charity and National Welfare (2022), Pandemic Emergency, Solidarity and Brutus Tactics (2020). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3562-2307.
Prof. Lindsay Forbes, MSc, MD (London), FFPH, Clinical Professor of Public Health and Joint Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS), University of Kent, UK.Read more
Lindsay Forbes, MSc (Public Health), MD (London) and FFPH, is Clinical Professor of Public Health and Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent. An academic public health physician, she maintains connections with the policy and practice of local government and health services to ensure that her research answers real-world problems and to maximise her impact. She leads the public theme of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, which focuses on research to tackle inequalities in health and health service access across the region. She is passionate about enabling the policy and practice workforce to think critically and imaginatively about the ways services are delivered Recent publications include: Use of UK faith centres as a COVID-19 community vaccination clinic: exploring a potential model for community-based health care delivery (2024); A mixed-method evaluation of a novel targeted health messaging intervention to promote COVID-19 protective behaviours and vaccination among Black and South Asian communities living in the UK (2025); Developing a hope-focused intervention to prevent mental health problems and improve social outcomes for young women who are not in education, employment, or training (2024); Child, family and professional views on valued communication outcomes for non-verbal children with neurodisability: A qualitative meta-synthesis (2024). An expert also in working with primary care to inform policy on service organisation, she has published Changes in patient experience associated with growth and collaboration in general practice (2020); Evaluation of the introduction of QOF quality improvement modules in English general practice (2022); The effect of comorbidities on diagnostic interval for lung cancer (2024).
Dr Francesco Giovinazzo, MD, PhD, FEBS, FACS, Head of Surgery, San Camillo Hospital, Treviso, Italy, and Director of Con Noi Sulla Retta Via. Read more
Francesco Giovinazzo, MD, PhD, FEBS(HPB), FEBS (Italy), is Head of Surgery at Ospedale di Zona San Camillo Treviso (Italy); previously, Surgeon in Liver Transplantation and General Surgery at the Policlinico “A. Gemelli”, Rome. Dr Giovinazzo trained in Italy, the USA and the UK. While he specialises in surgical oncology, particularly in Hepatopancreatobiliary surgery, his range of experience and expertise includes Abdominal Multi-organ Retrieval and Liver Transplantation. Dr Giovinazzo is particularly interested in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer research and Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumours. His research interests span cancer biomarker discovery. morbidity and mortality rates in high-volume HPB centres and laboratory-based, epidemiological and meta-analysis projects producing high-impact publications. Dr Giovinazzo has authored over a hundred peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, has led several international projects, and secured research funds with different research grants. His recent publications include, in 2024, New Frontiers in Pancreatic Cancer Management: Current Treatment Options and the Emerging Role of Neoadjuvant Therapy and Laparoscopic versus open liver resection for colorectal liver metastasis: an umbrella review. In 2025, he published Textbook oncologic outcomes in colorectal cancer surgery: a systematic review; Radiofrequency ablation versus surgical resection in colorectal liver metastasis: insight from an umbrella review and Effect of peri-adventitial superior mesenteric artery dissection on margin status during pancreaticoduodenectomy for resectable pancreatic cancer: the DISSECT RCT protocol.
Dr Antonia Stefanelli, Retired Manager, Department of Technical-Health Professions, Tuscany, Italy.Read more
Antonia Stefanelli is a retired Manager, Department of Technical Health Professions, USL Toscana Centro. She holds a Degree in Pedagogy, majoring in Psychology, University of Florence, a Master’s in Clinical Pedagogy from the ISFAR International School and a Master’s in Diagnostic Technical Health Professions. Mrs Stefanelli served in Technical Cooperation for Developing Countries, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and taught at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Physiotherapy and Diagnostic Imaging Techniques, University of Florence. She collaborated in the drafting of technical diagnostic protocols, planning and implementing training programs for staff working within the Department’s healthcare facilities, with a particular focus on developing new tools to meet demand and planning educational/training programs. She also served as a Clinical Risk Facilitator. Antonia Stefanelli is an expert in management, organisation and training, specialising in planning, service management, human resources, and technology for diagnostic processes
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Prof. Italo Pardo, MSc, PhD, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Kent, UK, and President of the International Urban Symposium-IUS.Read more
Italo Pardo is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Kent, Elected Academician of the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and President of the International Urban Symposium-IUS. In the late 1900s he pioneered research on legitimacy (e.g., Morals of Legitimacy: Between Agency and System, 2000; Legitimacy: Methodological and Theoretical Insights, 2019; On Legitimacy: Multidisciplinary Reflections, 2019), which ramified into research on legal and illegal corruption in the health system (Where it hurts: an Italian case of graded and stratified corruption and Between Morality and the Law, 2004). Over the years, this research has evolved through a large body of peer-reviewed publications, culminating in works such as A Social Anthropologist in Lockdown (2020), Healthcare and Public Health: Questions of Legitimacy (2022); The Legitimacy of Healthcare and Public Health: Anthropological Perspectives and Misgovernance Kills: Italian Evidence and On Legitimacy and Healthcare and Public Safety (2023). Recently, Prof. Pardo has focused on inequality in the field of public health and healthcare (e.g., Forms of Inequality and the Legitimacy of Governance, 2024; Unequal Italians and An Anthropologist’s Viewpoint on the Misgovernance of Public Health and Healthcare, 2025). Professor Pardo has lectured worldwide, and his work has been translated into Russian, Greek, Chinese and French. He co-edits the Series “Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology”. He established and co-edits the journal Urbanities. His profile and select publications are available at https://italopardo.wordpress.com.
Prof. Giuliana B. Prato, PhD, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Kent, UK, and Secretary-Treasurer of the International Urban Symposium-IUS.Read more
Giuliana B. Prato was trained in Sociology (Laurea, old system, Naples, Italy) and Social Anthropology (London, UK). She has done research in Italy, Albania, England and France on socio-economic policies, the legitimacy of governance, citizenship, inequalities, environmental impact on health, and, more recently, healthcare and public health policies, and the ethical and socio-economic implications of digital technologies and AI applications in health. Dr Prato co-convened the Workshop on “Legitimacy: The Right to Health”, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Workshop on “Public Health and Healthcare”, and the one-day seminar on “Legitimacy and medical practice: ethnographic approaches” (University of Kent). Her recent publications include the co-edited volumes The Legitimacy of Healthcare and Public Health (2023) and Healthcare and Public Health: Questions of Legitimacy (special issue of Urbanities, 2022, Vol.12, Suppl.6); the special issue on City Life and Beyond in Times of Pandemic (Urbanities, 2020, Vol.10, Suppl.4); and book chapters and articles on Inequality and the Era of e-Governance: The Pandemic Emergency as a Watershed (2025), Health Inequalities and Ethics of Responsibility: A Comparative Ethnography (2022), Healthcare Ethics in Urban Europe: Between Charity and National Welfare (2022), Pandemic Emergency, Solidarity and Brutus Tactics (2020). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3562-2307.
Prof. Lindsay Forbes, MSc, MD (London), FFPH, Clinical Professor of Public Health and Joint Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS), University of Kent, UK.Read more
Lindsay Forbes, MSc (Public Health), MD (London) and FFPH, is Clinical Professor of Public Health and Director of the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent. An academic public health physician, she maintains connections with the policy and practice of local government and health services to ensure that her research answers real-world problems and to maximise her impact. She leads the public theme of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, which focuses on research to tackle inequalities in health and health service access across the region. She is passionate about enabling the policy and practice workforce to think critically and imaginatively about the ways services are delivered Recent publications include: Use of UK faith centres as a COVID-19 community vaccination clinic: exploring a potential model for community-based health care delivery (2024); A mixed-method evaluation of a novel targeted health messaging intervention to promote COVID-19 protective behaviours and vaccination among Black and South Asian communities living in the UK (2025); Developing a hope-focused intervention to prevent mental health problems and improve social outcomes for young women who are not in education, employment, or training (2024); Child, family and professional views on valued communication outcomes for non-verbal children with neurodisability: A qualitative meta-synthesis (2024). An expert also in working with primary care to inform policy on service organisation, she has published Changes in patient experience associated with growth and collaboration in general practice (2020); Evaluation of the introduction of QOF quality improvement modules in English general practice (2022); The effect of comorbidities on diagnostic interval for lung cancer (2024).
Dr Francesco Giovinazzo, MD, PhD, FEBS, FACS, Head of Surgery, San Camillo Hospital, Treviso, Italy, and Director of Con Noi Sulla Retta Via. Read more
Francesco Giovinazzo, MD, PhD, FEBS(HPB), FEBS (Italy), is Head of Surgery at Ospedale di Zona San Camillo Treviso (Italy); previously, Surgeon in Liver Transplantation and General Surgery at the Policlinico “A. Gemelli”, Rome. Dr Giovinazzo trained in Italy, the USA and the UK. While he specialises in surgical oncology, particularly in Hepatopancreatobiliary surgery, his range of experience and expertise includes Abdominal Multi-organ Retrieval and Liver Transplantation. Dr Giovinazzo is particularly interested in Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer research and Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumours. His research interests span cancer biomarker discovery. morbidity and mortality rates in high-volume HPB centres and laboratory-based, epidemiological and meta-analysis projects producing high-impact publications. Dr Giovinazzo has authored over a hundred peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, has led several international projects, and secured research funds with different research grants. His recent publications include, in 2024, New Frontiers in Pancreatic Cancer Management: Current Treatment Options and the Emerging Role of Neoadjuvant Therapy and Laparoscopic versus open liver resection for colorectal liver metastasis: an umbrella review. In 2025, he published Textbook oncologic outcomes in colorectal cancer surgery: a systematic review; Radiofrequency ablation versus surgical resection in colorectal liver metastasis: insight from an umbrella review and Effect of peri-adventitial superior mesenteric artery dissection on margin status during pancreaticoduodenectomy for resectable pancreatic cancer: the DISSECT RCT protocol.
Dr Simon Bailey, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, University of Kent, UK. Read more
Simon Bailey is a medical and organisational sociologist with extensive experience of health and social care services research in the UK. The broad focus of his research is the relationship between knowledge, organisation and ethical conduct, specific topics include access to care, primary care commissioning, digital health, health inequalities, and organisational learning and development. He is a founder member of the research centre for Global Science and Epistemic Justice, a committee member for the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme, and an associate editor for Frontiers in Health Services. His recent publications include articles on Commissioning a neighbourhood health service (2025), Can primary care networks contribute to the national goal of reducing health inequalities? (2024), Parasitic universes: Organisational and technological meddling in the social (2023), and Advancing an understanding of access as ‘human fit’ (2022).
Dr Gary Armstrong, PhD, Reader, City St. George’s, University of London, UK.Read more
Gary Armstrong has been a Reader in Criminology at City St George’s, University of London since 2018. He has previously lectured in the Sociology of Sport at Brunel University and before that in Criminology at the University of Westminster and the University of Reading. He has published extensively on criminology, sport-related matters, policing and security, and social order. More recently, he has done research on suicide, epidemiological approaches to urban violence, the relationship between sport and health and wellbeing, and on spiritual aspects of healing. Among his publications, the monographs Football Hooligans: Knowing the Scores and Blade Runners: Lives in Football; the co-edited volume Surveillance, CCTV and Social Control; the co-authored volumes Policing the London 2012 Olympics: Legacy and Social Exclusion; Mixed Occupancy Housing in London: A Living Tapestry?; Power Plays: Hard and Soft Power in Sport; a socio-historical analysis of boxing in Sheffield titled Rings of Steel, and the co-authored research on Interrogating the Public Health Approach: Lessons from the Field of Urban Violence.
Dr James Rosbrook-Thompson, PhD, Senior Lecturer, City St. George’s, University of London, UK.Read more
James Rosbrook-Thompson holds a PhD in Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is currently Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City St. George, University of London. He is an urban sociologist who has written extensively on urban inequalities and youth offending. Dr Rosbrook-Thompson is currently involved in an interdisciplinary multiagency research on recreational drug use. Most recently, he has conducted research on epidemiology and public health-inspired attempts to reduce urban violence. This has included papers published in Urbanities-Journal of Urban Ethnography and the British Journal of Criminology. He contributed chapters to the edited collections, The Legitimacy of Healthcare and Public Health (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) and Forms of Inequality and the Legitimacy of Governance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).
Dr Z. Nurdan Atalay, PhD, Ass. Professor, Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University, Turkey.Read more
Z. Nurdan Atalay, PhD in Sociology, is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University, Türkiye. Dr Atalay has conducted research on citizenship, social inequalities, poverty, health and financialization. She has published in both Turkish and English. Her recent selected publications include Where do we find money? Urban inequalities under financialization in Mardin, Turkey (2021), Fighting through credit: Financial strategies during the pandemic in Turkey (2020), Why personal responsibility and competition do not reduce total spending in health care? (2015) with H. Tekgüç.
Dr Carlo Benvenuti, General Practitioner, Tuscany, Italy.Read more
Carlo Benvenuti graduated in medicine and surgery at the University of Florence (1983) and specialised in medical hydrology and thermal clinics at the University of Pisa (1989). Dr Benvenuti practised medicine as a general practitioner for thirty-seven years, as a doctor at the Montecatini Terme spa for three years and as an emergency department physician for six years. Over the last three years, he has practised polyatomic liquid oxygen therapy. Dr Benvenuti is up-to-date on advancements in various branches of medicine.