Prof. Rizzo studied Medicine and got training in Internal Medicine in Italy. He spent several years in the United States working at University of California, gaining clinical and research experience on patients with different metabolic disorders, including dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity and the metabolic syndrome. When back from the USA, he continued to gain clinical and research experience over the years in several Universities in Europe and, more recently, in the Middle East.

He is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Palermo, Italy with joint positions as Head of the Unit of Diabetes and Cardiovascular Prevention, University Hospital (Policlinic) of Palermo, as well as Head of the Cardiometabolic Research Lab at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Palermo, currently in sabbatical. He is also former Director, Department of Population Health at the Euro-Mediterranean Institute for Science and Technology, Italy.

In addition, Prof. Rizzo mantains a Faculty position in the USA since 2012, as Affiliate Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, University of South Carolina School of Medicine. Prof. Rizzo has been Director and Chief Medical and Scientific Advisor Diabetes for Novo Nordisk Europe East and South, now EELM.

He sits on the editorial board of 14 international journals with Impact Factor (IF) in the fields of diabetes, cardiovascular, pharmacology, and metabolism. He has been the recipient of national and international fellowships and grants, and acted as reviewer for 100+ international scientific journals with IF. The research work of Prof. Rizzo combines translational research (focus on the effects and mechanisms of action of anti-diabetic and cardiometabolic agents) and basic research (focus on novel cardiometabolic risk factors).

Prof. Rizzo has published in several top medical journals, such as the European Heart Journal (IF: 22,673), the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (IF:20,589), JAMA Internal Medicine (IF: 18,652) and Diabetes Care (IF: 16,019). He is included in the national list of Top Italian Scientists since 2012 and the following are some of his publication metrics:

– Publications in journals with Impact Factor: 283 – total Impact Factor: 1.102

– mean Impact Factor per publication: 3.9

– total Citations: 11.509

– H-Index: 59
Finally, Prof. Rizzo has been over the years Coordinator, Vice-Chairman or co-Chairman of several International Expert Panel Documents in the field of dyslipidemia, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, as well as National Executive Board Member of the Italian Society of Nutraceuticals (SINUT) for the years 2018-2020 and International Executive Board Member of the Mediterranean Group for the Study of Diabetes (MGSD) for the years 2017-2019. He has also been the recipient of the International Career Award for “achievements in research and education in the field of atherosclerosis” by the Oman Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (OSLA) and the International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS) in 2018.