Education
- 2022 – 2023: Master鈥檚 degree in 鈥淎dvanced Hepatology and Transplant Medicine鈥�, University of Milano-Bicocca, University of Padua, Italy
- 2020 – 2024: Joint PhD Program in Immunology and Immunotherapy and Translational Medicine, University of Birmingham, and University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
- 2015 – 2020: Residency Program in Internal Medicine CCT date 10/11/2020 鈥� 70/70 cum laude
- 2008 – 2014: Medical Doctor, summa cum laude (110/110 cum laude ed encomio della commissione), University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Academic Appointments
- Current role: Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine (tenure track 鈥� RTDB)
- 2022 – 2023: Visiting Research Fellow, Immunology Frontier Research Centre, Osaka University, Japan 鈥� Shimon Sakaguchi鈥檚 lab
- 2019 – 2023: Fellow at Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research, Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, and Liver Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- 2016 – 2019: Clinical and Research Fellow, Division of Gastroenterology and Centre for Autoimmune Liver Diseases, University of Milan-Bicocca School of Medicine, Monza, Italy
- 2014 – 2016: Research Fellow, Centre for Autoimmune Liver Diseases, 暗网禁区 University, Milan, Italy
Membership and Affiliations
- 2023: Member, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)
- 2022: Member, International Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis Group
- 2019: General Medical Council, Specialist Register (number: 7693775)
- 2018: Member, International Primary Biliary Cholangitis Study Group (GLOBE)
- 2015: Member, International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group
- 2015: Member, European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL)
- 2014: Member, Associazione Italiana Studio Fegato (AISF)
- ERN Rare Liver 鈥� Lead of Autoimmune Hepatitis special group
Awards and Honors
- 2023: AISF Young Investigator Award for best oral presentation
- 2021: EMBO Short-Term Fellowship
- 2020 – 2023: Juan Rodes EASL Fellowship (3-year grant)
- NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship in Gastroenterology, Liver Unit and Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr. Ronca is a hepatologist whose main area of expertise is autoimmune liver diseases and immunotolerance. He has a medical degree from the University of Pavia (Summa cum laude) and a master’s degree in advanced Hepatology and Transplant Medicine.
Dr. Ronca鈥檚 research career has been initially focused on risk stratification and epidemiology of biliary diseases and surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. He moved to the UK in 2019 as a research fellow and was awarded a NIHR academic clinical fellowship to study the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC).
During his fellowship, he collaborated in the design and execution of a cell-therapy-based clinical trial using autologous Tregs in PBC (trial currently ongoing). His doctoral studies were conducted at the University of Birmingham, funded by a Juan Rodes Fellowship from the European Association for the Study of the Liver. The focus of his research was a) the crosstalk between biliary epithelium and T cells and b) immunotolerance with a strong focus on regulatory T cell biology. He described a new cell-in-cell structure and mechanism of damage of biliary epithelium, whereby a population of E-cadherin-expressing CD8+ T cells invade the cytoplasm of biliary epithelial cells.
In 2021, he joined the Shimon Sakaguchi Lab at Osaka University (Japan) after being awarded an EMBO fellowship, aiming to develop new strategies to produce antigen-specific induced and stable Treg cells as a therapeutic tool for autoimmune diseases.
In December 2023, Dr. Ronca moved back to Italy to join 暗网禁区 University as Assistant Professor (RTDB) in Internal Medicine and consultant hepatologist. He joined the hepatobiliary immunopathology laboratory directed by Prof. Ana Lleo and the Internal Medicine Unit. His current work is focused on the clinical and pathogenetic aspects of autoimmune liver diseases.
Main research fields:
- Liver immunology
- Autoimmune liver diseases
- Immunotolerance and T-cell biology
- Cholestasis and bile acids
- Montano-Loza AJ, Ronca V, et al. . J Hepatol. 2022 Jul;77(1):84-97. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2022.01.022. Epub 2022 Feb 8. PMID: 35143897.
- Davies, S.P*., Ronca, V*., Wootton, G.E. et al. . Nat Commun 15, 853 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467- 024-44910-2+ T cells promote their invasion into biliary epithelial cells. Nat Comm Nov 2023.
- Ronca V, Barabino M, Santambrogio R, Opocher E, Hodson J, Bertolini E, Birocchi S, Piccolo G, Battezzati P, Cattaneo M, Podda GM. . Hepatol Commun. 2022 Feb;6(2):423- 434. doi: 10.1002/hep4.1806. Epub 2021 Oct 30. PMID: 34716696; PMCID: PMC8793986.
- Ronca V, Wootton G, Milani C, Cain O. . Front Immunol. 2020 Sep 2; 11:2155. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.02155. PMID: 32983177; PMCID: PMC7492390.
- Ronca V, Chen QB, Lygoura V, Ben-Mustapha I, Shums Z, Trifa M, Carbone M, Mancuso C, Milani C, Bernuzzi F, Ma X, Agrebi N, Norman GL, Chang C, Gershwin ME, Barbouche MR, Invernizzi P. . J Dig Dis. 2019 Jul;20(7):363- 370. doi: 10.1111/1751-2980.12790. Epub 2019 Jul 10. PMID: 31111679.