Franco Emanuel Appiani, MD, is a neurologist specialized in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, with a particular focus on cerebral small vessel disease and its interface with neurodegeneration. He trained in Neurology at Hospital Universitario Fundación Favaloro (Buenos Aires) under the mentorship of Dr. Oscar Gershanik, where he developed an early research interest in the neuroimaging patterns of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). During this period, he also served as Chief Resident and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Universidad Favaloro, strengthening his experience in leadership and medical education. He later worked at the Instituto de Neurociencias Cognitivas (INECO) with Dr. Facundo Manes, expanding his clinical expertise in cognitive neurology.
Since 2022, he has been based in Barcelona, where he worked at ACE Alzheimer Center Barcelona under the mentorship of Dr. Mercè Boada, combining clinical practice with community education and teaching activities at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. In 2024, he completed a six-month clinical rotation at Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
Currently, he is completing the final thesis of a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Health (UAB) and has been awarded a national research fellowship (Río Hortega) to study omics approaches in cerebral small vessel disease at the Institut de Recerca Sant Pau, within the Pharmacogenomics and Neurovascular Genetics group and the Memory Unit. His research focuses on identifying molecular biomarkers in small vessel disease using multi-omics strategies, with the goal of improving disease monitoring and enabling therapeutic discovery, including drug-repurposing strategies.
Looking ahead, his research aims to integrate clinical neurology, molecular biology and neuroimaging to develop biomarker-driven approaches for predicting disease progression and identifying therapeutic targets in cerebral small vessel disease.
