Paolo Martini, PhD
Dr Paolo Martini is Chief Scientific Officer, Rare Diseases. With more than 18 years of experience in drug discovery working on molecular mechanisms underlying monogenic and multigenic metabolic and fibrotic disorders as well as hematologic malignancies, Dr. Martini’s laboratory is focused on identifying novel therapies and applying translational approaches for drug development in rare genetic disorders.
Previously Dr. Martini worked at Shire plc in Lexington, Massachusetts, as Senior Director of Discovery Biology and Translational Research, focusing on fibrotic diseases of muscle, kidney, skin, lung, bone marrow and metabolic liver diseases, with particular emphasis on different therapeutic modalities for pathway modulation. In his role at Shire, he supported phase 1 and 2 clinical studies for lysosomal storage and chronic kidney diseases. Prior to Shire, Dr. Martini worked at EMD-Serono for five years in Discovery Research.
After graduating from the University of Milan, Italy, he moved to Germany for a post-doctoral work at Schering AG (now Bayer) in Berlin, Germany, and then to the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. Dr. Martini has been collaborating with organizations supporting research and clinical development of rare metabolic disorders and fibrotic diseases, and he is currently a member of the Keystone Symposia’s Scientific Advisory Board.