(8 June 2016) Borella is Professor of Hygiene at the Medical Faculty and Unimore Surgery – University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. She has carried out original research on a number of issues related to public health, particularly with regard to risk assessment of exposure to environmental risks and the lifestyles. She has recently received an important international assignment: she was called to lead the Federation of European Societies on Trace Elements and Minerals – FESTEM, a prestigious Federation of European companies that are involved in the study of trace metals and minerals in humans and animals. She will remain in office for the next four years. The unanimous election of Borella was held during FESTEM’s sixth International Symposium, titled “New horizons on trace elements and mineral’s role in human and animal health”, promoted and organised by Professor Paola Borella and Professor Marco Vinceti, both professors of Unimore and in collaboration with the University of Catania. Jean Snow from the Free University of Brussels and Professor Bernhard Mickalke from the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich were Borella’s preceding Presidents of FESTEM. It is, therefore, the first time that this body relies on the guidance of an Italian scholar. Festem was born in 1998 with a registered charter in Grenoble, France. It brings together in a single federation five different national companies: The Italian AISETOV, whose President is Professor Marco Vinceti of Unimore, the German GMS, France and Belgium’s SFERETE, the Spanish and the Russian SEQCET RUSTEM. “To have been elected unanimously – says Professor Borella- makes me very proud, but conscious that I took on a commitment of significant responsibility in representing Italy and our scientific community at the international level. Plans for the Federation include extending towards other national companies proposed as potential partners and the opportunity to expand partnerships with the many researchers who make up the group of FESTEM scholars interested in these matters with a strong interdisciplinary connotation: biologists, agriculturists, chemical, engineers, doctors, and veterinarians. “(PO / red)
