The Italian Association of Epidemiology (AIE), founded in 1977 in order to promote epidemiology within the National Health System and to encourage collaboration between those engaged in epidemiological research in Italy, elected Lorenzo Richiardi as its new vice president.

Richiardi, full professor of Medical Statistics at the University of Turin, is director of the Epidemiology Unit of the AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza and of the University of Turin as well as coordinator of the Piedmont CPO and co-director of the European Educational Program in Epidemiology.

In accepting the new position, Richiardi expressed some key points of his vision, highlighting how the priority needs for the AIE are the defense of public health, the protection of planetary health in the context of and in contrast to climate change, the promotion of environmental justice, the fight against health inequalities, the ability to deal with problems related to population aging and multi-morbidity, the balanced introduction of artificial intelligence methods, the recovery of the lost balance between the right to health and protection of privacy, the ability, finally, to contribute to the debate on the epochal themes of migrations and wars.

"There are two keywords - said Richiardi - which I think can identify a unified approach to simultaneously address so many interconnected challenges: openness and impact: I hope that the AIE is not only the sum of different forms of epidemiology, but constructive dialogues internally for priority problems and issues to be addressed, without forgetting the research and public health activities, so to speak, historical and ordinary, but for this reason no less important."

The new AIE Governing Council is joined by: Cristina Canova, Michele Carugno, Elena Farina, Francesca Mataloni, Davide Petri, Francesco Venturelli, Francesca Zambri. Carla Ancona is the new president.