PhD, President
Professor Valter Longo has thirty years of experience in the field of longevity, nutrition and aging to his credit and is considered one of the leading experts in the field at an international level, following in the footsteps of his mentor Roy Walford, a pioneer of studies on healthy longevity. Valter Longo is currently Professor of Biogerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Institute of Longevity of the School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles as well as Director of the Oncology and Longevity Program at IFOM (FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology ) in Milan. Professor Longo is the founder of the Create Cures Foundation in the United States and the Valter Longo Foundation in Italy.
Chief Executive Officer & Vice President
Antonluca Matarazzo is a licensed attorney under the State Bar of Italy. He is a Senior International Executive with multiple years of experience in business management and development. Since 2020, he has served the Fondazione Valter Longo first as the General Director and then as Chief Executive Officer and Vice President. From 2019 to 2021 he also served as the Executive Director of the Create Cures Foundation in Los Angeles, California, USA. Professionally, he has over two decades of experience managing diverse projects and cultivating partnerships in global markets, including Africa, Europe and UAE, and in planning strategic and tactical processes, as well as directing departments and leadership teams. Prior to his relocation to the United States, he focused on cross-border businesses and transactions in the renewable energy, financial, IT and construction sectors.
Among his leadership roles, he served as a Managing Director for a European subsidiary; the CEO of a branch of an industrial group in Africa; Director of the international section of the Development Department for Europe, Africa and UAE; interim Board member of several subsidiaries; and Senior Business Manager for specific business units in Italy and Poland. He obtained his law degree in 2005 from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, and his MBA from “24 Ore Business School” in 2007. In addition to Italian, he is fluent in English, and French, and proficient in Spanish.
Ph.D., Program Director
Dr. Cristina Villa obtained a PhD from the University of California Los Angeles focusing her attention on traumatic events such as the Holocaust, the importance of memory and respect for human rights, a Masters at the University of Ca ‘Foscari concerning yoga and meditation, a Masters in Italian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters in English and German studies at the University of Bergamo. Her research focuses on the history of food in Italy and in the Mediterranean area and has taught food history courses for the University of Southern California, University of California UCEAP, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University and Vanderbilt University in Florence.
PhD, Chief Scientific Officer
Romina Inés Cervigni, obtained a PhD from Open University in the United Kingdom focusing her attention on the field of oncology and a second level Masters in Nutrition and Dietetics. She has collaborated as a postdoctoral researcher with the National Research Committee (CNR) in Naples and the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan.
Head of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications
Rita Bonzio, born in Milan, began her professional career in events management and, during her more than twenty-years of experience in business development and marketing, has travelled the world, supplying her knowledge and expertise to top executives of the most prestigious Italian and international companies, in the ambit of client and sales force conventions. Keen vision and an entrepreneurial spirit soon earned her the role of Commercial Director of some of the most renowned event venues in Italy. EXPO 2015 afforded her the opportunity to further develop her skills in the entertainment field where she personally managed major sponsorship contracts. Rita now draws upon this extensive experience as she turns her focus to the non-profit sector, where she initially coordinated sponsor & donor activities in the field of prevention.
In the short term, she will also take on communications and social marketing, devising strategies to raise donor awareness. She collaborates with and grows long term relationships with public administration and with some of the nation’s most important companies focused on social betterment and welfare.
