Stefano Masiero is an academic clinician (full professor) in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Padova (UNIPD). His basic training has been as a physiatrist, with a special interest in neuro-rehabilitation, and holds a post-graduate diploma in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics (University of Verona). His current research portfolio includes treatment in spinal disorders and study of non-invasive musculoskeletal assessment; physical therapy (e.g., external shock wave, short-wave diathermy); injecting therapy in the patient with musculoskeletal disorders; the role of exercise in the elderly; new tools for neurorehabilitation (e.g., robot-therapy, gait analysis, neurophysiological mechanisms of recovery after stroke and orthopedic surgery, rehabilitation outcomes in Parkinson Disease); robot-assisted rehabilitation and haptic interfaces for clinical application; rehabilitation in thermal environmental and functional electrical stimulation.He has more than 200 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters to his name. He has been given several awards for his work, e.g., Science Award for Notable Scientific Achievements and Contributions in the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2019, National Children's Rehabilitation Center - University Medical Center (KZ)). He is Director of the School of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova (IT) and Chair of Rehabilitation Department, Padova University-General Hospital (IT).

Office: +39 049 821 1270
e-mail: stef.masiero@unipd.it

Emanuela Formaggio received the Master’s degree in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in bioengineering from the University of Padova, in 2005 and 2010, respectively. From 2006 to 2010 she was a research fellow at the Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences at the University of Verona, Italy. From 2010 she has a research fellowship with Foundation IRCCS "San Camillo" Hospital, Venezia, Italy. From 2018 she is an assistant professor in Bioengineering at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, Italy. Her research interest concerns fMRI analysis, coregistration of EEG-fMRI signals, EEG-TMS coregistration and EEG/MEG source localization for clinical applications (epilepsy, stroke, disorders of consciousness, Parkinson, muscular dystrophy).

Teaching
e-mail: emanuela.formaggio@unipd.it

Maria Rubega received a BSc Degree in Information Engineering in July 2011 and a MSc Degree in Bioengineering in October 2013, both from the University of Padova (Padova, Italy). In February 2017, she obtained her Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Padova. During her 2-y experience (April 2017-April 2019) at the Laboratory of Prof. C.M. Michel at the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the University of Geneva (Geneva, Switzerland), she was involved in the project Sinergia aiming in exploring brain communication pathways by combining diffusion based quantitative structural connectivity and EEG source imaging with application to physiological and epileptic networks. Her main research was related to the quantification of high-density EEG time-varying connectivity in the source space (i.e., estimation of EEG source dipole orientation for connectivity analysis; implementation of a constrained Kalman filter approach to inform dynamic functional connectivity with anatomical priors; graph methods for the analysis of functional/effective connectivity matrices). Now, she is a Research Fellow at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Padova. She is currently involved in a project funded by REACT-EU PON (DM 1062/2021) in order to analyse cortical and muscular activations in upright dynamic and static balance in the elderly to prevent fall. She is involved in the acquisition of kinematic, cerebral activity and muscular signal during gait and postural adjustments and on EEG-EMG signal processing.

Teaching
e-mail: maria.rubega@unipd.it

Michela Agostini received the BSc degree in Physical Therapy in November 2002 and in September 2014 the Msc Degree in Rehabilitation Health Professional, both from the University of Padova (Italy). In September 2012 she obtained her Master degree in Health Care Management at University of Sapienza- Roma (Italy) and in July 1997 the BSc degree in Motor Science from the University of Bologna (Italy). From January 2003 to February 2021 she worked at IRCCS San Camillo Hospital in Venezia as Physical Therapist coordinator of the Laboratory of Kinematics and Robotics. She led the research line in Telemedicine and Telerehabilitation coordinating the Physical Therapists unit. From March 2021 she works at the Department of Neuroscience University of Padova, Italy. Her research interest deals with the application of virtual reality and haptic robots for the rehabilitation needs in neurological disease both in presence and in remote control (telerehabilitation).

Paola Contessa received a BSc degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2004, a MSc degree in Bioengineering in 2006, and a Ph.D. in Information Engineering from the University of Padova (Italy) in 2010. Between 2010 and 2015, she held several positions at Boston University (Boston, USA), including Research Scientist at the NeuroMuscular Research Center and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training of Sargent College. From 2013 to 2022, she was Research Scientist and later Assistant Director of Research at Delsys and Altec Inc. (Natick, USA), where she worked to develop sensor systems and signal processing algorithms to improve knowledge of human movement in health and disease. She was also Program Director of the De Luca Foundation and Chairperson of the Motor Control Group, a scientific society affiliated with the International Society of Biomechanics. Since 2023, she works at the Orthopedic Rehabilitation Unit of Azienda Ospedale Università Padova (Padova, Italy) where she collaborates in clinical and research activities related to biomechanical and electromyographic evaluation of patients with spine deformities, tendon and joint diseases, osteoarthritis, pain, rheumatic diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, sports injuries, neurologic disorders, and others.

e-mail: paola.contessa@aopd.veneto.it

Matilde Paramento received her MSc Degree in Bioengineering in April 2022 from the University of Padova and her BSc Degree in Biomedical Engineering in September 2016 from the same university. During her master degree, she collaborated on a research project aimed at investigating the physiopathology of long-term cognitive / affective impairment in acute COVID-19 survivors at the Department of Neuroscience of the University of Padova. Now, she is a Research assistant at the same department. She is currently involved in a project related to the Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) which aims at examining the complex pathophysiology of AIS and offering a valuable biomarker of scoliosis progression. She is involved in the analysis of brain activity and postural control data acquired during tasks designed to evaluate possible body image and body schema alterations in adolescent girls with or without AIS. Her research interest concerns EEG, EMG processing and neuroimaging techniques applied to clinical settings.

e-mail: matilde.paramento@unipd.it 

Maria Chiara Maccarone is a PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at the University of Padua, currently in the final months of her residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the same institution. Graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Padua in 2018, she is actively involved in several research projects that focus on the rehabilitative management of musculoskeletal disorders, encompassing neurophysiological evaluations and psychological body perception studies. With 35 scientific articles published in national and international journals indexed in MEDLINE and the Science Citation Index, she has also authored 21 book chapters (publication currently in progress). She has presented several posters at international conferences and received recognition with the Best Young Speaker award at the 2023 On-site, Padua Days of Muscle & Mobility Medicine.

e-mail: mariachiara.maccarone@phd.unipd.it 

Edoardo Passarotto is a Research Assistant at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Padua, Italy. He earned a MSc degree in Music, Mind and Brain at Goldsmiths, University of London and he is currently a PhD candidate at the Center for Systems Neuroscience and the Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine in Hannover, Germany. His main research interests include cognitive neuropsychology, motor learning and movement disorders in musicians and non-musicians. He is currently investigating distortions in body image perception in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

e-mail: edoardo.passarotto@studenti.unipd.it 

Past

Marianna Zampini, MD
Maria Zebele, MD
Lorenzo De Zen, MD
Riccardo Pieropan, MD
Cristian Bortoli, MD

Valentina Brino, MSc
Laura Zanetti, MSc
Martina Sapone, MSc
Nabil Errami, MSc
Andrea Vallin, MSc
Marco Andreoletti, MSc
Elena Vedova, MSc
Andrea Rachele Aparo, MSc
Sara Guida, MSc
Alessia Nepitali, MSc

Emma Marzocchi, BSc
Camilla Zordan, BSc
Francesca Molino, BSc 

Past

Giulia Zanetti, MSc
Asja Vianello, MSc
Matilde Paramento, MSc
Vittorio Curci, MSc
Stefano Zambelli, BSc
Elisa Callegari, MSc
Edoardo De Gasperi, MSc
Roberta Cesaletti, BSc
Arianna Moro, BSc
Jessica Rupil, MSc