Dr Michele Pagnanelli is a General Surgeon specialized in Pancreatic Surgery and a Young Researcher at Humanitas Research Hospital.

He graduated in Medicine and Surgery at Università Politecnica delle Marche (Ancona) in 2015 with a thesis focused on the prognostic role of Ki-67 for the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

From November 2016 to October 2021, Dr Pagnanelli attended his residency in General Surgery at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, where he obtained training in abdominal and endocrine surgery and took part in several clinical research projects regarding pancreatic and colorectal surgery as well as liver transplantation.

In November 2021, Dr Pagnanelli joined the laboratory of Prof Zerbi at Humanitas University for a PhD in Molecular and Experimental Medicine that he defended in January 2025 with a thesis on the mechanical characterization of human pancreas through indentation for the realization of a realistic phantom aimed at surgical training. This project, conducted with the collaboration of biomedical engineers of Politecnico di Milano, was supported by the Ministry of Health and obtained scientific recognition in national (AISP / SIC) and international (IHPBA / E-AHPBA) congresses and journals (Biomedicines).

As a Postdoc Fellow, he will continue his contribution in the present project which will be soon extended to the malignant counterpart to explore the mechanical characteristics of PDAC in terms of permeability to oncological treatments with the aim to obtain patient tailored therapies.

In the last four years, Dr Pagnanelli has worked in the Pancreatic Surgery Unit of Humanitas Research Hospital as a Young Consultant in surgery and Adjunct Clinical Professor.