Francesco Giorgino appointed new president of the European Society for Diabetes

Italy is in fine form at the European Congress of the EASD, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Following the Minkowski Prize awarded to Teresa Mezza, our country will also elect the president of the European Society: Francesco Giorgino , 61, director of the Department of Endocrinology and full professor at the University of Bari, who will take up his post in January 2026 for a two-year term.

The fourth Italian

Giorgino was appointed by the EASD assembly, which brings together approximately 13,000 delegates from around the world in Vienna, the largest diabetes conference in the world. He is the fourth Italian to hold the role of president, following Domenico Andreani, Ele Ferrannini, and Stefano Del Prato.

Married, with two children and a love for the sea, Giorgino arrives tanned after a seaside holiday in his beloved Sardinia (he is from Puglia, son of Riccardo Giorgino, a pioneer of the Bari school of endocrinology) and smiling at the appointment he has just received.

The Italian tradition

"It's an honor," he begins in the corridors of the Messe where the EASD conference is taking place, "and a great opportunity for our country, which has always had a great tradition in diabetes, both in research and clinical practice. We have disease indicators among our patients that are among the best in the world. With Law 115, we have diabetes centers throughout the country, and this certainly must be protected. Indeed, we need to improve the network and the system, and pursue ideas like our birth screening law for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, which is envied by the scientific community. Now, however, we need to move from a pilot experiment to full implementation. We have the tools to reach a diagnosis early, and we know that the sooner we get there, the less organ damage there will be."

More and more sick

While Giorgino doesn't see any particular critical issues in our country, this isn't the case everywhere. "The number of patients with diabetes is increasing," he explains, "both globally and in the EU, and the challenge is significant. We must valorize the concept of a complex disease and offer the best therapeutic solutions. Today, we approach diabetes as a complex disease, and new areas of expertise have been added to traditional expertise: technology, nutrition, prevention of cardiovascular and renal damage, cognitive and reproductive aspects. It's essential to integrate research, clinical practice, and service organization."