PRI Spotlight Gianfranco De Stefano
Gianfranco De Stefano
MAIN RESEARCH INTERESTS
Disclosing pathogenetic mechanisms in Neuropathic pain diseases, with special regard to disorders affecting the craniofacial district, utilizing advanced Neuroimaging and Neurophysiological tools, such as MRI Voxel-based morphometry and pain-related evoked potentials.
BIOGRAPHY
I graduated in Medicine in 2016 at Sapienza University in Rome, and I am currently undergoing the Residency Program in Neurology at the same institution. Since I was a student, I was passionate about neuropathic pain, with special regard to its pathogenetic mechanism. In the recent years, I have focalized my interest on Trigeminal Neuralgia and conditions primarily characterized by facial pain, working in Rome with Prof. Giorgio Cruccu and Prof. Andrea Truini. Under their supervision, I learned to utilise advanced Neuroimaging and Neurophysiological techniques, such as MRI Voxel-based morphometry, Trigeminal Reflexes and Laser-Evoked Potentials.
In 2020 I won a competitive Research Fellowship, sponsored by the European Academy of Neurology. This grant will allow me to carry on a project on Quantitative Sensory Testing and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Trigeminal Neuralgia and Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain, under the supervision of Dr. Bernhard Frank, at the Pain Research Institute of Liverpool. The principal aim of this study is to understand if subtle anatomical and functional alterations of the Somatosensory System may represent the basis of the peculiar clinical characteristics that distinguish these diseases.