Maritati Gabriele
Born on 20 February 1968 in Lecce in southern Italy, where I completed Classical High School before attending the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (UCSC) Medical School in Rome. UCSC was at the time the only medical school with admission exam and a fixed number (250) of students.
After graduating with honours in 1993, for two years I attached myself to the Cardiovascular Surgery Unit of the public San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital, the busiest in the capital, with a vast specific experience in aortic surgery.
After the Unit was divided into separate Cardiac and Vascular Surgery units in 1995, I began my five-year Vascular Surgery training period, working in the same Vascular Unit under the supervision of UCSC.
The second half of my training was spent abroad at the Texas Medical Center (five months as an observer focused on thoraco-abdominal aneurysm repair under the supervision of Prof. J. Coselli and Prof. D. Cooley) and at Leeds Vascular Unit-Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (two and a half years' training under the supervision of Prof. S. Homer-Vanniasinkam and Mr. M. Gough as Vascular Fellow and recipient of an ESVS educational grant, honorary registrar, and locum registrar).
After completing vascular training in 2000 I was appointed as Consultant Vascular Surgeon at the Vascular Surgery Unit at the San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital in Rome where I worked until June 2017. During that time I focused on the surgical management of aortic disease at all levels of complexity, although I was also directly involved in peripheral arterial surgery. From 2003 I was the consultant most involved in the aortic endovascular program, until 2009 when Prof. P. Cao became Director of the Unit, introducing the most advanced endovascular management of aortic disease. In 2001 I passed the FEBVS (Fellowship of the European Board in Vascular Surgery) exam in Lucerne (CH). In the meantime I developed an interest in evidence-based practice and clinical governance, and I directed courses at regional and national level to promote awareness of these concepts among young specialists or surgical trainees (EBM-CG are not integrated into the medical school/training program in Italy). In 2012-2013 I participated in three training missions on behalf of the 'Istituto per la Cooperazione Internazionale'-Rome (ICU) as head of the vascular surgery branch, at the Centre National de Cardiologie, Nouakchott, Mauritania.
For eighteen months, starting in 2013, I was appointed as locum Vascular Consultant at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals. During that period I was also directed involved in the management of aortic disease, and following my re-entry in the Ospedale San Camillo-Forlanini I returned to Leeds on three occasions to lead the surgical team for three cases of EVAR conversion.
In 2016, after the retirement of Prof. P. Cao I become the acting Director of the Vascular Surgery Unit.
From June 2017 until August 2021 I was appointed as Director of the Vascular and Endovascular Unit at the 'Ospedale Perrino' Hospital in Brindisi (national health care service), within a catchment area of 800,000 people. During that period the Unit offered arterial surgery at all level of complexity in terms of aortic open-endovascular repair.
From August 2021 I am the Director of the Vascular and Endovascular Unit at the Ospedale dei Castelli-ASLRoma6 in Rome, Italy (national health care service), within a catchment area of 800,000 people, with the aim to further increase the level of service which was offered in Brindisi.
In addition, I have served as examiner for the FEBVS examination since 2014 and as an EJVES reviewer since 2008; I was elected as national member of the ESVS Council (2012-2015); I contributed to the development of the first 'Extensive Vascular Exposure' (EVE) Course at the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire. I collaborated with a research group at University College in London (UCL) carrying out a study of computational fluid dynamics in the management of type B aortic dissection. Between 2015 and 2018, I have regularly received visiting students from the "Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland" Medical School, in Bahrain. Since 2021 I am a member of the Executive Board within the Collegio dei Primari di Chirurgia Vascolare (Italian national college of directors of vascular units). I co-directed in 2021 the inaugural Leeds Aortic Course within the Leeds Vascular Institute at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, Leeds-UK.