Maria Clemente MD, PhD

Dr. Maria Grazia Clemente received her medical degree in Italy from Cagliari University School of Medicine in 1988. She then completed her residency in pediatrics in 1992 and performed her fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at the 2nd Pediatric Clinic, Microcitemico Pedatric Hosptial "Antonio Cao" of the Azienda Sanitaria Locale (A.S.L.) Cagliari, University School of Medicine, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. In 1997, Dr, Clemente got her Ph.D degree in Pediatric Therapy and Pharmacology at the University of Milano, Italy. As Ph.D student she spent one full year at the Dept. of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology Medical School of Hannover MHH, Hannover, Germany, where she successfully discovered CYP 1A2 as the hepatic hallmark of autoimmune hepatitis in children with Type 1 Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndrome.

Twice as a visiting professor, and later as a post-doctoral fellow (2/2004-10/2007), she worked at the Mucosal Biology Research Center and Center for Celiac Disease, University of Maryland at Baltimore, Maryland, USA. In November 2007, Dr. Clemente joined as Senior Research Specialist the Pediatric Liver Center, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition of the Children”s Hospital at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, to work on discovering the etiology of biliary atresia, a dramatic and progressive congenital liver disease responsible for the majority of liver transplants in childhood. While at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Clemente won the prestigious Best Italian Woman Inventor Award 2011, received on June 14 in Turin, Italy, for her research studies on celiac disease that led to the discovering of a new serological marker, the anti-F actin IgA and the development of a blood test that detects the small intestinal lesions caused by gluten intolerance.

In 2013, as principal investigator, Dr. Clemente won a research project funded grant for 3-years job position as faculty assistant professor in pediatrics ("rientro dei cervelli" RTD-A) at the School of Medicine of the University of Sassari, Sardinia, Italy, where she taught Pediatrics and continuted her research studies in the field of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. in collaboration both with the Pediatric Liver Center of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, and the Pediatric Surgery and Institute of Pathology of "Spedali Civili", University of Brescia, Italy. In April 2020, Dr. Clemente began to work as a hospital physician at the Azienda di Rilievo Nazionale ed Alta Specializzazione (A.R.N.A.S.) G. Brotzu in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. After the first year of the global Covid-19 outbreak, during which Dr Clemente worked at the pediatric Emergency Room of the Emergency Department, she is working at the Day Hospital for Thalassemia Major and other Hemoglobinopathies of the Microcitemico Pedatric Hosptial "Antonio Cao" of the Azienda Sanitaria Locale (A.S.L.) Cagliari, in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.