IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele is a university hospital and scientific institute founded in 1971 to provide specialized care for the most complex health conditions and to perform cutting-edge translational research. Ospedale San Raffaele was first recognized by the Italian Ministry of Health as a research hospital Ospedale San Raffaele in numbers vert(Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, IRCCS) in 1972 for its expertise in diabetes study and cure. The recognition as IRCCS was then extended to the full field of molecular medicine in 2001.

Thanks to 100 high-tech laboratories and pre-clinical facilities, 50 medical fields, 50.000 hospitalizations per year and more than 880 ongoing clinical trials, at Ospedale San Raffaele basic science translate quickly into clinical practice and clinical needs drive basic research.

Since May 2012, Ospedale San Raffaele joined Gruppo Ospedaliero San Donato, the top Italian hospital group.

Forming tomorrow’s doctors and researchers

Within OSR campus there is Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, a university giving degrees in Biomedicine, Psychology and Philosophy. Each faculty includes undergraduate and graduate courses, study centers, doctoral schools and masters. Many university students – studying physiotherapy, nursing, medicine and biotechnology studies – can do their practical training in the hospital facilities: clinical departments and research labs.

A translational approach

IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele integrates basic and clinical research through a translational method, in which lab discoveries translate quickly into clinical therapies and clinical needs drive basic research. The institute aims at understanding the mechanisms underlying a variety of human diseases and at finding new targets and therapeutic methods to treat them. Among the main clinical area of investigation: central and peripheral nervous systems pathologies, tumors, immuno-mediated, infectious, genetic, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Alongside with improving therapies, the institute wants to create new technologies in the field of genomics and imaging, needed for early diagnosis and personalized cures. The Institute is known as a global authority in cell and gene therapies, and is at the forefront of research in many other areas.