Giorgio Walter Canonica is currently full professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Humanitas University and the Director of the Personalized Asthma and Allergy Medicine Center at Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, where he is also clinical group leader, leading Molecular Allergology Lab.

Canonica received his master’s degree from the School of Medicine of the University of Genoa in 1972. He started his career as a specialist in pulmonary disease at University of Genoa, before moving to Florence University to further specialize in Allergy and Clinical Immunology. He subsequently conducted clinical immunology and allergology research in several European universities and institutes, in addition to 2 years at the Medical University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.

Since returning to the University of Genoa in 1995, Professor Canonica has held a number of academic positions, including Director of the Speciality School of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Director of the Specialty School of Pulmonary Diseases, Full Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medical Specialities.

Professor Canonica has a particular research interest in the interactions between immunocompetent cells, inflammatory cells and epithelial cells in allergic inflammation and airway remodelling.

Professor Canonica has served as president of the World Allergy Organization, the Interasma-Global Asthma Association, the Italian Society of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology and the Italian Society of Respiratory Medicine. He has received a number of honours and awards, including the World Allergy Organization Award for Outstanding Scientific Contributions.

He has published over 1000 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, with an h-index of 105 and more than 64.000 citations.