Riccardo Polosa

Riccardo Polosa (born in July 1961) is an Italian respiratory physician. In 2018, he described his roles as "Full Professor of Internal Medicine and specialist of Respiratory Diseases and Clinical Immunology at the University of Catania as well as the Founder and Clinical Director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Scientific Director of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the same University."[1] The CoEHAR received funding of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which is entirely funded by the tobacco industry Philip Morris International.[2][3][4]

His research interests centre on smoking-related diseases and on new tobacco products. Polosa has been a consultant for the e-cigarette distributor Arbi Group Srl.[5] According to a paper published in BMC Public Health, he is the most prolific author in the field of electronic cigarettes, as of 2014.[6]

Education

Polosa Riccardo received his bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from University of Catania in 1986. He thereafter pursued specialisations in diseases of the respiratory system and tisiology in 1990 from the same university and clinical immunology and allergology in 1994 from University of Southampton.[7] He returned to university of Catania to pursue PhD in internal medicine.[7]

Career

In 2000, Polosa Riccardo was appointed Professor in University of Eastern Piedmont, while he continued to serve in various capacities at the department of Pneumology, Rheumatology, Immunological Diseases and Allergology and the center for Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Smoking at University of Catania.[8] Polosa was appointed full professor of internal medicine at University of Catania in 2007 and was promoted as the director of the School of Specialization in Rheumatology in 2011.[9]

He is specialised in the field of tobacco smoking, tobacco harm reduction and electronic cigarettes.[10] According to a paper published in BMC Public Health, Polosa Riccardo is the most prolific author in the field of electronic cigarettes.[6] His work contributed to a 2015 paper finding that "e-cigarettes were 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes". This finding has been criticized by The Lancet.[11] He also challenged claims that vaping poses a risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

He serves as an external member of the Technical Committee of the Italian Institute of Health (ISS).[12] He is also the National Coordinator for the Italian Working Group on “Electronic cigarettes and e-liquids” and has been recently elected Convener for the Working Group on “Requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes”, within the European Committee for Standardization.[13]

Centre of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR)

In 2018, Riccardo Polosa founded the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), University of Catania, Italy.[8] The CoEHAR is funded by the tobacco industry Philip Morris International, through its Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (through an intermediate company named ECLAT SRL).[2][3][4]

The CoEHAR aims at developing policy recommendations that would allow a more widespread diffusion of 'reduced-risk products', such as electronic cigarettes.[14][15][16][17]

Riccardo Polosa was the principal investigator the first prospective randomized study with control group evaluating the efficacy and safety of electronic cigarettes on a sample of 300 smokers unwilling to quit.[18]

In May 2020, he launched the Catania Conversation, a science communication initiative that seeks to bring the best of science and media to the high table where policy decisions are debated and decided.[19]

Publications

Riccardo Polosa is the author of over 300 scientific publications.[20] He is also author of over 30 book chapters and is the chief editor of two international volumes published in 2007 and one in 2009.[21] He is also among the curators of the Italian edition of AA.VV. Macleod - Manuale di semeiotica e metodologia medica, Edra Elsevier, Milan 2014.[22]

References
  1. "World No Tobacco Day: Q&A with Mathieu Morissette and Riccardo Polosa", 31 May 2018
  2. "Riccardo Polosa - TobaccoTactics".
  3. Tess Legg, Michel Legendre and Anna Gilmore, "Paying lip service to publication ethics: scientific publishing practices and the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World", Tobacco Control, 28 April 2021 (PMID 33911028).
  4. Talha Khan Burki, "Conflicts of interest in tobacco industry-funded research", The Lancet Oncology, volume 22, issue 6, page 758, 2021 PMID 33965060.
  5. Eddie, Marck (16 December 2015). "Health Board Alters Stance on E-Cigarettes". The Herald. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017.
  6. Zyoud, Sa'ed H (30 June 2014). "Worldwide research productivity in the field of electronic cigarette: a bibliometric analysis". BMC Public Health. 14: 667. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-667. PMC 4089552. PMID 24975597.
  7. "Riccardo POLOSA | MD, PhD | University of Catania, Catania | UNICT | Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  8. "Scheda docente | Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale". www.medclin.unict.it. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  9. "Reumatologia | Università degli Studi di Catania". www.unict.it. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  10. Tierney, John (2011-11-07). "A Tool to Quit Smoking Has Some Unlikely Critics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  11. Chaffee, Benjamin W.; Couch, Elizabeth T.; Ryder, Mark I. (2016). "The tobacco-using periodontal patient: role of the dental practitioner in tobacco cessation and periodontal disease management". Periodontology 2000. 71 (1): 52–64. doi:10.1111/prd.12120. ISSN 0906-6713. PMC 4842013. PMID 27045430.
  12. Redazione (2016-10-27). "Chi non vuole mandare in fumo le sigarette elettroniche". Formiche.net (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  13. Dunand, Nathalie (1 February 2016). "R. Polosa: Head of EU workgroup on the development of methods and laboratory tests". The Vaping Post.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "Giappone chiama Italia: Polosa incontra parlamentari e governo nipponici". Sigmagazine. 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  15. "eCigarettes are safer than smoking tobacco". The Parliament Magazine. 2020-06-29. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  16. Polosa, Riccardo; Rodu, Brad; Caponnetto, Pasquale; Maglia, Marilena; Raciti, Cirino (2013-10-04). "A fresh look at tobacco harm reduction: the case for the electronic cigarette". Harm Reduction Journal. 10 (1): 19. doi:10.1186/1477-7517-10-19. ISSN 1477-7517. PMC 3850892. PMID 24090432.
  17. "I cannot see why e-cigarettes should be banned … if you switch to combustion-free products harm will come down". Times of India Blog. 2019-09-20. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  18. Plose One, ECLAT EffiCiency and Safety of an eLectronic cigAreTte (ECLAT) as Tobacco Cigarettes Substitute: A Prospective 12-Month Randomized Control Design Study
  19. "Medici e giornalisti internazionali alla master class online del Coehar". Sigmagazine (in Italian). 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  20. "Scopus preview - Scopus - Author details (Polosa, Riccardo)". www.scopus.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  21. "Analytical Assessment of e-Cigarettes - 1st Edition". www.elsevier.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  22. "Macleod Manuale di Semeiotica e Metodologia Medica - EdizioniEdra". www.edizioniedra.it. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
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