On May 6, 2026, in Dublin, Prof. Massimo Dominici — Full Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Unimore), Director of the Complex Structure of Oncology at the University Hospital of Modena, and scientific coordinator of the Medical Devices and Technologies thematic network within HEAL Italia — received the prestigious 2026 ISCT Career Achievement Award in Cell & Gene Therapy, conferred by the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy (ISCT).
The ceremony took place during the ISCT 2026 Annual Meeting at the Convention Centre Dublin, the leading global congress for the scientific community engaged in advanced therapies.
A twenty-year journey, from research to international leadership
Established in 2016, the ISCT Career Achievement Award recognizes careers that have made a substantial contribution to the development of cell and gene therapies — across academic, regulatory, and industrial research. For Dominici, the award has special significance: he has been an ISCT member since 2001 and, in the 2014–2016 term, he became the first non-North American president in the history of the society, which today brings together more than 4,500 experts from over 60 countries.
Over the course of his career, he directed the Cell Therapy Laboratory at Unimore, with 340 scientific publications, more than 60,000 citations, and 14 patents. He founded the university start-up Rigenerand srl, later acquired by Evotec Modena, and co-founded EIR Biotherapies. Since 2019, he has also served on the Expert Advisory Panel for International Nonproprietary Names (INN) of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the field of cell and gene therapies.
The connection with HEAL Italia
Dominici is also the national coordinator of the HEAL Italia Steering Committee. As scientific coordinator of the Medical Devices and Technologies thematic network, he leads a research area whose goal is to design, develop, and validate innovative devices and technologies that make precision medicine applicable in clinical settings: tools that serve the quality of diagnoses, the effectiveness of therapies, and patient safety.
Among the thematic network’s recent results are the launch of the process to establish an Interdepartmental Center for Advanced Technologies and Therapies for Precision Medicine at Unimore, and a network of active international collaborations with universities in Japan, the United States, Sweden, Spain, and Hungary. In Dominici’s own words, as reported by Unimore Magazine: “This recognition is not only personal, but reflects the work of a community made up of colleagues, researchers, and clinicians who contribute every day to the development of cell and gene therapies.”