What the COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals about Malnutrition, Muscle Loss, and Immunity

Francesco Landi, MD, PhD

Full Professor of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Department of Geriatrics and Orthopaedic Sciences
Director, School of Specialization in Geriatrics
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Director, Department of Aging, Orthopaedic and Rheumatologic Sciences
Director, Complex Operational Unit of Geriatric Internal Medicine
Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS

Francesco Landi, MD, PhD, is Full Professor of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy. He is Director of the Department of Aging, Orthopaedic andRheumatologic Sciences at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS and Director of the School of Specialization in Geriatrics. He earned his medical degree, his specialization in Geriatrics and a PhD in Preventive Medicine at the Università Cattolica. He trained as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Medical School and served as visiting Professor at Brown University. He also had a long-standing scientific collaboration with the University of Florida.

His research focuses on healthy ageing, sarcopenia and frailty. As Principal Investigator of several national and European projects, including SPRINTT, he has developed physical activity protocols to promote healthy ageing. He designed a longevity check-up based on eight predictors of healthy aging. This check-up is the core of the Longevity RUN Project, a nationwide initiative that combines health screening with a non-competitive run. Prof. Landi is Past President of the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics and a promoter of the European Consensus on Sarcopenia. He serves on national and international expert panels developing guidelines on nutrition, sarcopenia and physical function in older adults. He has authored more than 450 peer-reviewed articles and serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals.