From research to personalised care: here is Emilia’s first cardiology IRCCS
The Maria Cecilia Hospital in Cotignola has been designated a Scientific Hospital and Care Centre by the Ministry of Health
Key points
Precision medicine and personalised care for heart health. Maria Cecilia Hospital in Cotignola, in the province of Ravenna – the facility from which GVM Care & Research, has been awarded the status of Scientific Institute for Hospitalisation and Care (IRCCS) in the ‘Cardiology-Pulmonology’ field, the first in this area in Emilia-Romagna. The recognition was granted to the Romagna-based facility by the Ministry of Health in recent days.
The IRCCS designation is awarded to healthcare facilities capable of combining highly specialised clinical care with scientific output of national and international significance. There are a total of 55 such facilities in Italia, 23 of which are private. Of these, only three in Lombardy and one in Piedmont are single-specialist IRCCS centres specialising in cardiology. With this achievement, therefore, the hospital in Ravenna has secured a position of outstanding importance, the result of many years of investment in translational research, advanced technologies and multidisciplinary expertise.
The new centre of excellence
Maria Cecilia Hospital, a leading centre for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and a centre of excellence in cardiac surgery – particularly through its Heart Valve Centre – thus also becomes the region’s first private IRCCS in the field of cardiology and pulmonology, and the first within the GVM Care & Research group – the third-largest player in the private healthcare sector according to the Mediobanca ranking, with a turnover of almost one billion euros and hospitals and outpatient clinics in 11 Italian regions, as well as facilities in France, Poland, Albania and Ukraine. “This recognition,” emphasises Ettore Sansavini, president of Maria Cecilia Hospital and GVM Care & Research, “represents the culmination of a journey built up over time through a strategic vision founded on research, innovation and investment. From the very beginning, we have believed in the need to establish a direct link between the laboratory and the patient’s bedside, so that scientific discoveries can be rapidly translated into new treatment opportunities. Our research stems from listening to the real needs of patients, which clinicians identify every day in their clinical practice. This sets in motion a virtuous circle in which care and research feed into one another, generating knowledge, innovation and value for the entire community. The recognition of Maria Cecilia Hospital as an IRCCS confirms the validity of this model and encourages us to continue along this path.”
Strengthening research and engaging with clinical practice
Research activity at Maria Cecilia Hospital continues to grow steadily. The team is currently involved in over 60 clinical trials, both national and international, ranging from interventional to observational studies. The number of publications – which totalled 166 in 2025 – also bears witness to the consolidation of the hospital’s scientific output.
GVM Care & Research is a group which, over more than fifty years of operation, has implemented a model that combines care and innovation in the service of patients. Over the last four years, the Translational Research Laboratory at the hospital in Romagna has been expanded to bring researchers and specialists into ever closer contact on a day-to-day basis, fostering an exchange that encourages constant dialogue between clinical and scientific practice.
