Dr Novella Cesta, Infectious Diseases Specialist, Nuovo Ospedale Apuano, Massa, Italy

Novella Cesta is an Infectious Diseases Specialist currently working at the Infectious Diseases Department of the Nuovo Ospedale Apuano (Massa-IT).  She graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Tor Vergata (Rome, Italy) and specialised in Infectious Diseases at the same university. She has acquired in-depth knowledge of treating infections caused by bacteria resistant to antimicrobial therapy, especially those related to devices/biofilm. Currently, she’s also a Ph.D. student in Infectious Diseases, Microbiology, immunology, and Transplantation Program at the University of Tor Vergata (Rome), focusing on phage therapy as an alternative treatment strategy for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Since 2019, Dr Cesta has treated patients in Italy with phage therapy and was responsible for their post-treatment follow-up.

Since January 2023, Dr Cesta has also been appointed “Cultore della Materia” by the University of Pisa in the teaching course “Application of Bacteriophages for Biocontrol in the Medical, Veterinary, and Agricultural Fields.