Prevention
The Minister has argued that prevention spending should be treated as an investment, and has said he is working with the Ministry of Economy to have it excluded from EU deficit calculations.
Prevention & health promotionMinistro della Salute · Repubblica Italiana
Orazio Schillaci
Italian Minister of Health
A physician and full professor of nuclear medicine who led the University of Rome Tor Vergata as Rector before entering government. Since October 2022 he has been responsible for Italy's national health policy, the stewardship of the National Health Service and the country's voice in European and global health.
Institutional introduction
A clinician's view of the nation's health.
Orazio Schillaci was born in Rome on 27 April 1966. Trained in medicine and surgery at Sapienza University of Rome, he built his professional life around nuclear medicine, the branch of medicine that uses radioactive tracers to image how organs and tissues function, and around the university hospital as a place where patient care, teaching and research meet.
His path to government did not run through party politics. Before he was sworn in as Minister of Health on 22 October 2022, he had spent more than two decades at the University of Rome Tor Vergata as professor, head of the nuclear medicine specialisation school, leader of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and, from November 2019, Rector. He took office as an independent, a technical appointment in a political government, and the Ministry was his first political role.
The Ministry he leads sets national health policy, defines the essential levels of care that every Italian is entitled to, oversees medicines and public health, and coordinates with the twenty-one regional and provincial health systems that deliver care. This website describes his career and the policies of his mandate in a factual, sourced way. Where figures are given, the source is named. Where his words are quoted, they come from official records or published interviews.
Read the full biography or go directly to the analysis of healthcare policy.
Biography snapshot
Five dates that define a career.
- 1990
Graduates in Medicine and Surgery at Sapienza University of Rome.
- 1994
Completes his specialisation in nuclear medicine, followed in 2000 by a doctorate in radioisotopic functional imaging.
- 2007
Becomes full professor of nuclear medicine at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
- 2019
Takes office as Rector of Tor Vergata on 1 November 2019.
- 2022
Sworn in as Minister of Health on 22 October 2022.
Medical & academic career
Three decades between the clinic and the lecture hall.
His specialism, molecular and functional imaging, sits at the meeting point of physics, biology and clinical care. That combination shaped a career spent running a hospital service, training specialists and governing a medical faculty.
Clinician
A nuclear medicine physician, he worked on PET, SPECT and hybrid imaging, the techniques used to stage cancers, study the heart and investigate neurological disease. Italian sources record him as head of the nuclear medicine service at Policlinico Tor Vergata from 2001.
Teacher
Associate professor at Tor Vergata from 2001 and full professor from 2007, he directed the university's school of specialisation in nuclear medicine from 2008, training the next generation of imaging specialists.
Academic leader
From 2011 he served as vice-president and then president of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, before being elected Rector of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, a post he held from November 2019 until October 2022.
Adviser to the health system
He was an expert member of the Consiglio Superiore di Sanità, Italy's Higher Health Council, from 2006 to 2009, and in 2020 was appointed to the scientific committee of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the national public health institute.
From medicine to public service
From medicine to public service
“It is truly a great honour to be able to serve the Nation in such an important role as that of Minister of Health.”
«È davvero un grande onore poter servire la Nazione in un ruolo così importante come quello di Ministro della Salute.»
In his first words as minister he spoke of bringing his experience as a doctor and academic to bear on the protection of public health. The transition was unusual: a scientist with no previous party affiliation entering a political cabinet.
The move into governmentMinister of Health
Stewardship of a universal health service.
Italy's Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN) was created by Law 833 of 1978 on the principle, set out in Article 32 of the Constitution, that health is a fundamental right of the individual and an interest of the community. The Minister of Health sets national policy and funding rules. The regions organise and deliver services.
The mandate has been shaped by the post-pandemic recovery, the health mission of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), long waiting lists, workforce shortages and an ageing population. The key national measures are summarised below and described in detail on the policy pages.
€143bnNational Health Fund for 2026, up from about €126bn in 2022, according to the Minister.Source: Ministry statements, Oct 2025
€15.63bnAllocated to Mission 6 (Health) of the PNRR.Source: PNRR / Chamber of Deputies
~800New services, therapies and tests in the 2026 update of the essential levels of care (LEA), the first since 2017.Source: Minister, Oct 2026
2025–30National Action Plan for Mental Health, approved after more than a decade without one.Source: Unified Conference
Healthcare priorities
The agenda, in six fields.
- 01
Waiting lists
Decree-Law 73/2024 and a national monitoring platform for waiting times.
- 02
Community-based care
Community Houses, Community Hospitals and territorial coordination centres.
- 03
Health workforce
Recruitment, retention and a reformed route into medical school.
- 04
Prevention
Screening, vaccination and the case for treating prevention as investment.
- 05
Mental health
The 2025–2030 national plan and the primary-care psychologist.
- 06
Preparedness
The 2025–2029 pandemic plan and the One Health approach.
Prevention · Research · Innovation
Where science meets policy.
Research
A career in molecular imaging and hundreds of peer-reviewed publications inform a ministry that relies on evidence, from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità to the research hospitals.
Research & scienceInnovation
The Electronic Health Record 2.0, the national telemedicine platform and faster access to new medicines are the practical side of a digital transformation funded largely by the PNRR.
Healthcare innovationInternational health
Italy's voice in global health.
In 2024 Italy held the G7 presidency and the Minister chaired the G7 health ministers in Ancona. These are some of the places where he has represented Italy.
- New York21 Sep 2023UN High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage
- ParisJan 2024OECD Health Ministerial Meeting
- Sofia5 Mar 2024Meeting at the Bulgarian Ministry of Health on cancer prevention
- Ancona9–11 Oct 2024G7 Health Ministers' Meeting, Italian Presidency
- Dublin1 Oct 2026“The Prevention Dividend”, guest of honour
- GenevaWHOEngagement with the World Health Organization
Latest activities
Recent record.
Each entry is drawn from a published, named source. The full archive is organised by year and category.
- Healthcare
Updated essential levels of care published
The Minister announced the publication of the update to the LEA, about 800 new services, therapies and tests, the first revision since 2017.
- International
Guest of honour at “The Prevention Dividend” in Dublin
An Italy–Ireland event on prevention, policy, business and medicine at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
- Prevention
Prevention spending and EU fiscal rules
In Il Sole 24 Ore, the Minister repeated his call for prevention spending to be excluded from EU deficit calculations.
Selected statements
In his own words.
“Our Constitution recognizes health as a universal right and ensures the access to healthcare services to all.”
“We are finally investing in prevention, which for years was considered the Cinderella of healthcare.”
Visual gallery
A photographic record.
Thirty photographs of official meetings, press conferences, parliamentary sessions and international summits.
Contact
Enquiries about this website.
Contact person: Mr. Digant Sharma · +91-9769999960 · im@digantsharma.com
Contact page