Biography:

My name is Elena, I live and work in Brescia, a city located in Lombardy, a region in the north of Italy. Lombardy is the largest region of the country. Brescia is quite a small city, with only 300.000 inhabitants. It is a very nice city: living and moving here it’s quite easy due to the small dimensions and the green surroundings. Brescia is nestled at the slopes of hills and mountains (Prealps) and it’s located between two beautiful lakes (lake Garda and Lake Iseo). Unfortunately, the spread of the covid-19 pandemic in Italy began between Brescia and Bergamo. In Lombardy, we had 46000 deaths (50- 85% death increase in Brescia and Bergamo respectively). Today we are out of the pandemic nightmare and these two cities are now united in a cultural and rebirth initiative since they both have been nominated cities for Culture 2023. Brescia is an ancient city with remains of the first Galli Cenomani settlement dating back to 32 b.C. There’s also a Roman forum and a theatre. In the countryside nearby the city, there are several vineyards. The Franciacorta white wine is a famous brut from this area. Brescia is the only city with a vineyard in the city center, located on the hill above the city castle.

I work as an anesthesiologist in the Operating Room of the Spedali Civili Brescia, a university-affiliated hub hospital. I graduated in Brescia, I worked briefly in Cambridge, UK, and then at Spedali Civili. I’ve been dealing with bariatric patients scheduled for gastric bypass since 2011and I have developed several perioperative and intraoperative protocols to manage them optimally and enhance their safety to obtain a prompt recovery after surgery. Besides my job, I’m married with children and, outside the hospital, I’m their taxi driver for school and other activities.