Three Brescia-based foundations have joined forces to consolidate and enhance research activities dedicated to dermatological oncology at the University of Brescia. The Beretta Foundation, the Guido Berlucchi ETS Foundation and the Carolina Zani Melanoma Foundation have funded the creation of a full professorship at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, specifically in the scientific discipline MEDS-10/C “Skin and Venereal Diseases”. The position was awarded following a competition, starting on 1 December 2025, to Prof. Marina Venturini, formerly an associate professor in the same department.
The total value of the funding is €500,000, plus the amount of contractual increases over the next 15 years guaranteed by a specific surety.
The funding is the result of an agreement signed by the foundations with the University of Brescia, demonstrating their desire to pool resources in order to achieve a goal that would otherwise be impossible.
«This initiative reconfirms the now essential collaboration between the public sector, in this case the university, and the private philanthropic sector, in this case three leading Brescia-based organisations with different missions, but which have research and treatment of cancer as their common factor and which, not always a given, have joined forces to achieve a greater goal» – comments Dr Enrico Zampedri, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Legal Representative of the Carolina Zani Melanoma Foundation.
«The Beretta Foundation was established in 1981 by Dr Piergiuseppe Beretta with the aim of promoting research into malignant tumours, so that it could translate into improved patient prognosis through innovative therapies such as immunotherapy» - says Prof. Angela Tincani Balestrieri, member of the Board of Directors of the Beretta Foundation - The profound conviction that only through research can patients be given the chance to overcome these terrible diseases led the Beretta Foundation to consider the situation of the Chair of Dermatology. Dermatology has in fact been dealing with skin tumours for many years, with a particular focus on melanoma, but not only, as evidenced by the extensive collaborations in place and participation in the European ERN-SKIN network dedicated to the treatment of rare forms of skin cancer. The hospital is perfectly equipped and functions as can be easily understood from the large number of patients who access it, including to receive innovative immunological treatments. By contributing to the funding of the Chair of Dermatology at the University of Brescia, the Beretta Foundation intends to support study and research in the field so that the hospital can always count on a continuous influx of young doctors and students. Only they, in fact, with their enthusiasm for research and dedication to study, will be able to ensure the future of patients. The Beretta Foundation understands that only the University is capable of creating the fertile ground from which innovative solutions can spring to improve the lives of people with serious oncological diseases, and that is why it is proud to support the continuity of the Chair of Dermatology».
«Over the course of its 25 years of activity, the Guido Berlucchi ETS Foundation has promoted and financed research, studies and teaching, supporting the work of organisations and institutes operating in the field of cancer prevention and treatment. The Board of Directors of the Guido Berlucchi ETS Foundation - explains Giambattista Bruni Conter, President of the Guido Berlucchi ETS Foundation - is delighted to support the University of Brescia, convinced of the key role played by the city's university as a centre for advanced research. Raising the standard of academic teaching – specifically in a field as topical as dermatology – means at the same time raising the status of our community in Brescia (and, more generally, of the national community, which has its reference point in Brescia) by promoting the scientific excellence of the Lombardy Region, in accordance with the aims of the Foundation's Statute».