Elisa R. Zanier is the director of the Department of Acute Brain and Cardiovascular Injury and the Laboratory of Traumatic Brain Injury and Neuroprotection at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy. She earned her medical doctor degree from the University of Milan, Italy, in 1998 and completed her residency in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine in 2002. She conducted her post-doctoral research at the Neurotrauma Laboratory, Neurosurgery Division, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA. From 2004 to 2008, she worked as a Neurointensivist and Anesthesiologist in the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit at the Fondazione IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan. Since 2008, she has been affiliated with the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, Italy. Her multidisciplinary team of over forty researchers focuses on developing preclinical models of acute brain and cardiac injury and enhancing collaboration between laboratory and clinical activities with the goal of: i) understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of acute brain and cardiovascular injuries, defining disease-associated endophenotypes, and identifying potential drug targets; ii) developing therapies for acute brain and cardiovascular damage and its chronic sequelae; iii) establishing a preclinical biorepository to identify new biomarkers and explore new mechanisms, reducing the use of animals for research; iv) contributing to the scientific training of early-career basic scientists and clinicians in the fields of critical care and neuroscience. Dr. Zanier is an expert in traumatic brain injury and has contributed to the understanding of maladaptive mechanisms leading to progressive neurodegeneration and to the definition of stem cell-based immune approaches to protect the injured brain. She has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications in acute brain injury and leads international and national consortia supported by organizations such as the American Department of Defense, the NIH, American Society of Alzheimer’s Disease, the European Union, and the Italian Ministry of Health. Since 2021, Dr. Zanier has also served as the Dean of the International Graduate PhD Program at IRFMN in collaboration with the Open University (UK).