Professor Francesco Amenta
Francesco Amenta, M.D. is Full Professor of Human Anatomy in the School of Medicinal and Health Products Pharmacy at the University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. He is also Dean of the School.
Professor Amenta attended the University of Rome, where he graduated as Doctor of Medicine and Surgery with the highest honors in 1977. He received his specialist degree in neurology in 1981, again with the highest honors.
Since 1978 Professor Amenta he has been teaching and doing research. From 1984 to 1992 he was a member of the Department of Public Health and Cell Biology at the University of "Tor Vergata", Rome. In November 1992 he assumed his present position at the University of Camerino. He also has professional associations with universities in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Hungary and has been a consultant to several pharmaceutical companies and to the European Economic Community. From November 2013 he was elected Dean of the School of Medicinal and Health Products Pharmacy at the University of Camerino. Professor Amenta has many scientific interests. Basically he has been concentrating on techniques of neurochemistry and histochemistry, neuroeffector mechanisms primarily in the vascular system, autoradiography of the sites of binding of neurotransmitters and of drugs affecting the central and peripheral nervous system, and analysis of pharmacological therapy of aging. In this area he has published over 430 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. Of papers 42 were review articles and 9 clinical trials. He has written several books in ltalian, edited two books in English, and translated one book from English into ltalian. He has also made frequent contributions to the Italian Medical Encyclopedia.
In 1995 Professor Amenta was appointed as scientific director of the non-profit foundation Centro Internazionale Radio Medico (CIRM). CIRM is the Italian Telemedical Maritime Assistance Service (TMAS) and offers medical advice to ships and planes without a doctor on board. CIRM is the historical institution of Italian telemedicine being established in 1935 and represents the TMAS with the largest experience in the world in assisting patients on board of seagoing vessels. At CIRM Professor Amenta started an applied research activity for improving the quality of medical care in favour of seafarers. This included also the promotion of telemedicine education for the different actors of medical assistance at sea.
Based on this experience and on the awareness that the progress of telemedicine requires primarily education, he developed at the University of Camerino a Master course in e-Health held from 2004 to 2012. The purpose of the 8 editions of this Master was to train health graduated professionals towards a basic aspects and practical applications of e-health and telemedicine. A specific evolution of the e-Health Master was the development of a Master course for health professionals of the oil and gas industry. The mission of the Master In Oil and GAs TElemedicine and TElepharmacy (MIOGATE) was to provide to health professionals working in oil and gas fields or platforms a specific training in e-health, telemedicine, telepharmacy and their practical applications. Basic research as a bridge for developing new educational initiatives in the vision of a university projected to train professionals for the new demands of the labor market are the main effort of the commitment of Professor Amenta activity. His activity and dedication in the field of telemedicine were crowned in his election in March 2011 as President of the CIRM.
Under Professor Amenta guidance CIRM has developed new services for improving the quality of medical assistance on board ships and moving from the obsolete descriptions of symptoms suffered by patients in case of diseases or accidents on board into high quality telemedicine solutions. Solutions that can increase safety of navigation, preventing diversions from the route, or at least delay for medical problems.