Dr Claudia Monaco

Dr Claudia Monaco attended Classical studies (1983-1988) and graduated from the Medical School at the Catholic University of Rome, Italy in 1994. She subsequently trained as a Cardiologist (1994-1998) with Professor Attilio Maseri. During these years she contributed to the the identification of a cytokine-dependent systemic inflammatory response in patients with acute coronary syndromes. For these studies she won the Young Investigator Award of the International Society of Thrombosis in 1997.

She relocated to the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in London in 1998, where she undertook her PhD studies (1998-2001). Her research demonstrated that human atherosclerotic disease shares features of persistent or chronic inflammation with classic inflammatory diseases, including the dysregulated production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study won the First Prize of the Young Investigator Award of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in the category Thrombosis in 2002. Finally, she recently demonstrated that innate immune signalling initiated by Toll-like Receptor-2 is a key signalling pathway in sustaining inflammation and tissue destruction in human atherosclerosis. Dr Claudia Monaco is now a Senior Lecturer and Hon. Consultant Cardiologist and Head of the Cytokine Biology of Atherosclerosis Group at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.