Miami, Florida, United States
Prof Gianluca Iacobellis is a physician-scientist, M.D., Ph.D. with full international training in endocrinology and strong research expertise in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular risk substantiated by international and national academic reputation. Prof Iacobellis is currently Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Miami, and Director of the University of Miami Hospital Diabetes Service. Prof Iacobellis has authored more than 160 peer-reviewed papers and 12 textbooks achieving a h-index of 64 with more than 18000 citations. Prof Iacobellis is considered the world-wide leading expert in the epicardial fat, a new cardiovascular risk factor. He pioneered and developed the echocardiographic epicardial fat quantification as a practical and reliable marker of visceral fat and therapeutic target. His research has been always focused on the interplay between adipose tissue and the heart. Prof Iacobellis’ studies suggest the active role of epicardial fat in coronary artery disease and obesity-related cardiac changes. Presently, he is exploring the potential of epicardial fat as brown fat and its pathophysiological role in cardio-metabolic diseases. Prof Iacobellis is leading several clinical projects on emerging diabetes/obesity pharmacotherapy targeting the epicardial fat.