Training Born in Rome in 1966, Ilaria Capua graduated with honors in
veterinary medicine from the
University of Perugia in 1989. In 1991, she completed a post-graduate specialization course in animal health and hygiene at the
University of Pisa.
Scientific activities Prior to joining the Italian Parliament, Capua served as director of the Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences for the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe), Legnaro in Padua. This DIVA strategy has been invented and developed already years earlier for the eradication of herpesviruses. The strategy involved inoculating poultry with an
inactivated vaccine derived from an antigenically related
H7N3 virus—coupled with a diagnostic test directed to identifying antibodies to the neuraminidase antigen, that revealed whether avian-flu antibodies present in a subject animal were caused by the H7N3 vaccine or by the field H7N1 virus. Today, DIVA is among the strategies recommended by the European Union to combat avian influenza on a global scale. During the outbreak of panzootic H5N1 influenza, which could be transmitted from birds to people, Capua's lab in Padua received a sample of the viral strain recently introduced in Nigeria for typing and characterization. The journal Science reported on Capua's effort, stating that she had "renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists' needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy." Capua's initiative was covered by the international press including the
Wall Street Journal, the
New York Times and the
Washington Post. The English-language scientific press continued to cover the debate, as did mainstream European press. Recently, Capua has been coordinator of the workgroup on Avian Influenza of EPIZONE scientific excellence network, which has been set up to improve the control of the
epizootic diseases in Europe. It consists of more than 300 researchers from 16 international research centres – two of them outside Europe. Epizone is a new
European Commission project under the sixth research framework programme (FP6), priority 5 (food quality and safety), and it has a budget of €14 million over five years. Today, the WHO, FAO, and OIE promote and support better sharing mechanisms, data transparency, and an interdisciplinary approach to improve preparedness for pandemic events. Capua has authored and co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, mainly on viral diseases of animals and diseases that can be transmitted from animals to people.
Political activities In January 2013, Capua was asked to run for a seat on the Italian Parliament by Mario Monti, the Italian Prime Minister at the time, who sought to add scientists and academics to Parliament. Capua accepted, and in February 2013 was elected a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, one of the two divisions of the Italian Parliament. Capua served for over two years as vice president of the Commission for Science, Culture, and Education of the Chamber of Deputies. Ilaria Capua resigned as a member of the Italian Parliament on September 28, 2016. Her resignation speech was published in the first page of
Corriere della Sera. ==Legal proceedings==