My research is focused on public mental health. With my PhD project, I am investigating cause and consequences of mental health problems with a life-course approach from an occupational perspective. The main target population of my works is university students and young adults.
I graduated in Medicine and Surgery with a thesis on psychosocial determinants of psychological distress among university students.
I do not want my work to get stuck in academia, and I truly look forward to having a social impact with it. This is why I am also devoted to the dissemination of science in the community, and I actively try to promote research and science among students and young professionals.
I am truly interested in social causes such as the refugees’ crisis, climate-changing, and gender inequalities.
Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC
Doctor Molewaterplein 40,
3015 GD, Rotterdam
the Netherlands
Since years I have been using social media to raise awareness on mental health and to disseminate scientific knowledge in the general population and among students.
Publications list
Most relevant publications
Associations of university student life challenges with mental health and self-rated health: A longitudinal study with 6 months follow-up
Journal of Affective Disorders
Mental health among university students: the associations of effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment with psychological distress
Journal of Affective Disorders
The covid-19 pandemic: One year later – an occupational perspective
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic: consequences for occupational health
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health
The impact of depressive symptoms on exit from paid employment in Europe: a longitudinal study with 4 years follow-up
European Jorunal of Public Health
Stress among university students: factorial structure and measurement invariance of the Italian version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance student questionnaire
BMC Psychology
Stress among medical students: factor structure of the University Stress Scale among Italian students
BMJ Open
Measuring Burnout Among University Students: Factorial Validity, Invariance, and Latent Profiles of the Italian Version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey (MBI-SS)
Frontiers in Psychology
Within the University Cares (UniCares) project, my team has validated multiple tools in order to investigate mental health among Italian university students.
- Maslach Burnout Inventory – Student Setting (MBI-SS)
- Effort-Reward Imbalance – Student Questionnaire (ERI-SQ)
- University Stress Scale – Short (USS-S)
I was invited as key-note speaker for the webinar “Mental health at university: a public health perspective” organised by SISM Bari and SISM Monza, and as a speaker for “The working dead: conoscere e affrontare il burnout nelle professioni sanitarie” organised by Gruppo Prometeo.
I have worked as a teaching assistant for five courses organized by the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences (NIHES):
- Public Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, by Prof. Alex Burdorf (2020)
- Methods in public health research, by Prof. Alex Burdorf (2020, 2021)
- Social epidemiology, by Prof. Frank van Lenthe (2020, 2021)
for these courses, my tasks included the development of the course in order to increase students’ engagement by increasing interaction, providing feedback to students, technical support, and moderation of the discussion.
I have supervised multiple students on their master thesis project and many others in their first research experience.