Adriana Albini was born in Venice, is married, and has two children. She works at the European Institute of Oncology–IEO, IRCCS, Milan.
Her main research interests include cancer prevention and interception, as well as the tumor microenvironment, with a particular focus on angiogenesis and inflammation. She also studies dietary derivatives and repurposed drugs for cancer prevention.
She developed landmark assays in invasion and angiogenesis and holds patents in the field.
She has authored more than 400 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and is among the most cited Italian biomedical scientists, with an h-index of 103 (Scholar) and 89 (Scopus).
She is Senior Editor of Cancer Prevention Research and Section Editor of Frontiers in Immunology, serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals, and is Editor-in-Chief of Cancerworld.
In 2018, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the AACR (American Association for Cancer Research), the world’s oldest and largest cancer research association with about 40,000 members, and serves on its Nominating Committee. From 2021 to 2024, she was Chair of the AACR Cancer Prevention Working Group.
She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of ESO (European School of Oncology).
She is currently President of EWMD Italy (European Women Management and Development).
Since 2024, she has been a member of the Scientific Council of the CNR (National Research Council of Italy).
In 2020, Adriana Albini was included by the BBC—being the only Italian—among the 100 most influential and “inspiring” women of the year.
She has served as President of the Italian Cancer Society (SIC) and of the Metastasis Research Society (MRS).
She has been Full Professor of Immunology/General Pathology at the Department of Medicine, University of Milano-Bicocca.
Until December 2021, she was Scientific Director of the MultiMedica Onlus Foundation in Milan. From 2012 to August 2015, she was Director of the Department of Research and Statistics Infrastructure (I-RS) at IRCCS Reggio Emilia.
From June 2004 to September 2006, she served as Deputy Scientific Director and, from January 2005 to September 2006, as Director of the Department of Translational Oncology at the National Cancer Research Institute (IST) in Genoa.
She graduated in Organic Chemistry and trained from 1980 to 1983 as a biochemist and postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich, Germany. From 1985 to 1988, she worked as a Visiting Scientist at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland (USA).
Dr. Albini also practices fencing and competes internationally in veterans’ tournaments, where she has won silver, bronze, and gold medals