Maria Fiore
Maria Fiore is Associate Professor of General and Applied Hygiene (MEDS-24/B) at the Department of Medical, Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “G.F. Ingrassia”, University of Catania, Italy.
She graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Catania and completed her specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine – Epidemiology and Public Health, as well as a PhD. From 2010 to 2022, she served as a Researcher at the University of Catania, where she has been an Associate Professor since 2022.
Her academic activities are primarily focused on General and Applied Hygiene and Public Health, with particular interests in epidemiology and prevention and a specific focus on investigating environmental determinants of health and their effects on populations.
She is involved in teaching across several degree programmes at the University of Catania and at the Postgraduate School of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, covering topics related to Hygiene, Public Health, epidemiology, and environmental epidemiology.
Her research activity is mainly focused on environmental epidemiology, with particular attention to the assessment of environmental exposures and their potential effects on human health. Her main research areas include air pollution, microplastics and nanoplastics, trace elements and metals, and, more broadly, the relationships between environmental exposures and human health.
A further area of research concerns the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases, with particular emphasis on vaccination, the evaluation of preventive interventions, and the determinants of vaccine uptake.
Her epidemiological research also includes observational studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and umbrella reviews applied to Public Health and environmental health topics.
More recently, her research interests have expanded to include the applications of artificial intelligence in Public Health, with particular attention to the education and training of future healthcare professionals and the potential applications of these technologies in epidemiology, prevention, and health planning.
She participates in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research projects, including projects based on the One Health approach, aimed at investigating the interconnections between environment and health. She is the author and co-author of scientific publications in national and international journals in the fields of epidemiology, prevention, Public Health, and environmental health.