FRANCESCO PAGNINI, PH.D., PSY.D

Francesco Pagnini (Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Psy.D. in Integrated Psychotherapy) is Professor at the Catholic University of Milan, promoted in 2022 as one of a very select few youngest full professors in Italy. His main research interest is the investigation of the mind/body relationship. His work focuses primarily on the study of how psychological components can influence one's physiology, with the overall aim to produce new psychological training interventions to help to change the course of physical illnesses. He works specifically with the concept of mindfulness, as well as with mind/body interventions such as relaxation training and meditation. He studies the potential of these interventions not only with people with chronic illnesses but also in the context of space exploration, collaborating with NASA and the European Space Agency. Despite his relative youth, he has authored more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including JAMA, PNAS, Lancet Psychiatry, and Psychological Inquiry, and received several competitive grants from national and international agencies. Dr. Pagnini has been a post-doctoral scholar, Visiting Faculty and Associate at Harvard University, a visiting scholar at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is currently Specialty Editor for the journal “BMC Psychology”, and Associate Editor for “Frontiers in Psychology for Clinical Settings”.