A national programme to bring Precision Medicine across Italy, from research to care.

The project was born to build a more effective, equitable and sustainable healthcare system, capable of meeting the challenges of contemporary medicine through the personalisation of care, data integration and technological innovation.

With over 70 partners including universities, IRCCS, research institutions and private companies, HEAL Italia operates as an extended partnership that connects fundamental research, technological development and clinical practice. The goal is to create a shared national platform, accessible from North to South, where no citizen receives different treatments due to lack of access to the most advanced tools.

The network is active in all Italian regions, with interconnected centers and laboratories that share knowledge, technologies and best practices. These are not simply facilities, but concrete access points through which citizens, patients and professionals can enter an integrated system that places the person at the centre.

Objective

To build an integrated and coordinated system of specialist centers, capable of offering personalised and excellent care by leveraging the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

HEAL Italia is an investment programme funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR – Mission 4 “Education and Research” – Component 2 “From Research to Business”), promoted by the Ministry of University and Research and the European Union – Next GenerationEU.

HEAL Italia promotes translational research, meaning the rapid transfer of scientific results from the laboratory stage to clinical practice, to ensure increasingly targeted and effective therapies. The project enhances regional excellence, fosters the sharing of data and knowledge and supports the development of new therapeutic solutions, including innovative drugs and cell therapies.

HEAL Italia represents an innovative and inclusive model, capable of enhancing regional excellence and ensuring high-quality care for all patients with rare diseases.

Dott.ssa Laura Leonardis

Direttore Generale, Co-Founder Officine

HEAL Italia is an integrated and coordinated network of Precision Medicine Centers distributed across the entire national territory.

Through a network organisational structure, Officine ensures cooperation among specialist centers distributed across the country and a central coordination hub, facilitating access to the most advanced care for all patients with rare diseases in Italy.

This network represents a cutting-edge model at both national and international level, placing innovation, multidisciplinarity and the personalisation of care at its core, with the aim of significantly improving the quality of life of patients.

Holistic Nosology

From patients to molecules and back: mapping the omic landscape from the molecular to the clinical environment, to identify, classify and refine the phenotypes of multifactorial diseases.

Intelligent Health

Data Science for Healthcare 4.0: data management and development of advanced methods, algorithms and machine learning approaches that integrate clinical and molecular data at large scale.

Prediction Models

Creation of advanced cellular models, organoids and organ-on-chip systems to test innovative therapies and understand disease mechanisms.

Precision Diagnostic

Precision Medicine that integrates clinical and imaging biomarkers for a "precise diagnosis in space and time".

Next-gen Therapeutics

Development of personalised treatments, including cell therapies, targeted drugs and innovative approaches based on the molecular profile of the patient.

Healthy Toolbox

Design and validation of next-generation medical devices for personalised diagnostics, monitoring and therapy.

Prevention Strategies

Individualised prevention strategies that take into account genetics, lifestyle, environment and the exposome to intercept disease trajectories.

Clinical Exploitation

Clinical validation and implementation of innovative approaches to predictive, preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic Precision Medicine, based on established or emerging molecular and clinical phenotyping and AI-driven decision-making protocols.

Precision medicine is the medicine of the future. Thanks to increasingly innovative technologies, it allows healthcare professionals to approach diagnoses and treatments by focusing on the individual and not just the pathology.

Prof. Mauro Piacentini

Professor Emeritus of Cellular Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata | Former President of the Technical Health Committee of the Ministry of Health | Vice President and Scientific Director of the HEAL Italia Foundation | Editor of international scientific journals published by Nature

This network model, based on a Network configuration, allows specialist expertise, technological resources and clinical data to be brought into synergy, offering patients with rare diseases a personalised and high-quality care pathway.

The network is composed of specialist centers that operate in close collaboration with a central hub, responsible for coordinating activities, standardising protocols and facilitating the exchange of information between the various sites. This structure makes it possible to overcome territorial barriers and ensure equitable access to the most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

The strength of the network lies in multidisciplinary integration: doctors, researchers, biologists, pharmacologists and technologists work together to develop and apply innovative solutions, accelerating the transfer of scientific discoveries into everyday clinical practice.

Through data sharing and the adoption of common technological platforms, HEAL Italia promotes the collection of clinical evidence and the testing of new therapies, thus contributing to the advancement of knowledge on rare diseases and the improvement of care standards.

This collaborative model represents a best practice at national and international level, with the aim of creating a sustainable, efficient and patient-centred system.

Unified and Interoperable Data Platform

A unified digital infrastructure for the collection, management and valorisation of clinical and experimental data, essential for building predictive models and ensuring interoperability with regional, national and European systems.

Continuously Growing Scientific Output

Over 100 peer-reviewed publications, more than 100 active clinical trials at partner institutions, over 40 projects funded through the Cascade Calls promoted by the Spoke Universities.

Unique Population Cohorts

Regulated access to patient cohorts of the highest scientific value, including the Sardinian and Molise cohorts, essential for association studies and the validation of predictive models.

Advanced Computational Infrastructure

High-performance computing systems, Big Data and AI platforms for large-scale analysis, clinical decision support and the development of predictive models.

A National Network at the Service of Precision Medicine

The value of HEAL Italia lies in its ability to connect resources, expertise and infrastructures distributed across the entire national territory, creating an integrated ecosystem that accelerates innovation and ensures equitable access.

National Platform of Interdisciplinary Expertise

A network of highly qualified experts in the clinical, bioinformatics, engineering and technological fields who collaborate on high-impact projects, with cross-cutting and complementary competencies.

National Biobank System

15 biobanks distributed across the country, coordinated under the supervision of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and connected to the European BBMRI infrastructure, for the standardised collection, preservation and management of biological samples and clinical data.

Over 100 Specialist Laboratories

Research laboratories organised by technological area (genomics, proteomics, diagnostics 4.0, innovative devices) that operate in synergy to support research and experimentation activities.

HEAL Italia is a national foundation that brings together universities, hospitals, public and private institutions to build a new kind of healthcare: human, competent, integrated.

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