Committee Members

Dr. Guido Sireci, born on September 19, 1957, is a distinguished immunologist and academic. He served at the University Hospital of Palermo from 1986 until 2024, contributing significantly to the fields of immunology and general pathology. Over the course of his career, Dr. Sireci published 110 scientific papers and achieved an H-index of 35, reflecting the impactful nature of his research. Among his accolades, he received the Best Abstract Award at the EFI Meeting in Montpellier in 1989 and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Meeting held from November 24–26, 2024. Until November 2024, he held the position of Professor of Immunology and General Pathology at the University of Palermo. In addition to his academic career, Dr. Sireci also worked as a senior technician at the Wellcome Research Laboratories and served as a visiting scientist at Hammersmith Hospital in London in 1996.

Dr. María Covadonga Vázquez-Sánchez is an Assistant Lecturer in Optometry at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). She holds a Doctorate in Vision Sciences from the same university. Her research focuses on the study of visual and auditory dysfunctions in the elderly, with a particular emphasis on dual sensory loss. She has published several articles on this topic and presented papers at international scientific conferences. Currently, she conducts her research in nursing homes and institutions that provide comprehensive and specialized care for elderly individuals with dementia. She has also coordinated several educational innovation projects in service-learning, aimed at delivering visual and auditory care services to highly vulnerable elderly populations.