Riccardo Polosa

In May 2020, he launched the Catania Conversation, a science communication initiative that seeks to bring the best of science and media to the high table where policy decisions are debated and decided.

In 2018, Riccardo Polosa founded the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), University of Catania, Italy. The CoEHAR is funded by the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (through an intermediate company named ECLAT SRL), which is itself funded by Philip Morris International.

He is specialised in the field of tobacco smoking, tobacco harm reduction and electronic cigarettes. According to a paper published in BMC Public Health, Polosa Riccardo is the most prolific author in the field of electronic cigarettes. His work contributed to a 2015 paper finding that "e-cigarettes were 95% less harmful than tobacco cigarettes". This finding has been criticized by The Lancet. He also challenged claims that vaping poses a risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His research interests centre on smoking-related diseases, heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes. Polosa has been a consultant for the e-cigarette distributor Arbi Group Srl. According to a paper published in BMC Public Health, he is the most prolific author in the field of electronic cigarettes, as of 2014.

Riccardo Polosa is the author of over 300 scientific publications. He is also author of over 30 book chapters and is the chief editor of two international volumes published in 2007 and one in 2009. He is also among the curators of the Italian edition of AA.VV. Macleod - Manuale di semeiotica e metodologia medica, Edra Elsevier, Milan 2014.

In 2000, Polosa Riccardo was appointed Professor in University of Eastern Piedmont, while he continued to serve in various capacities at the department of Pneumology, Rheumatology, Immunological Diseases and Allergology and the center for Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Smoking at University of Catania. Polosa was appointed full professor of internal medicine at University of Catania in 2007 and was promoted as the director of the School of Specialization in Rheumatology in 2011.

Riccardo Polosa pursued specializations in diseases of the respiratory system and physiology in 1990 from the University of Catania and clinical immunology and allergology in 1994 from the University of Southampton. In 1996, he pursued PhD in internal medicine at the University of Florence.

Polosa Riccardo received his bachelor's degree in medicine from University of Catania in 1986. He then pursued specialisation in diseases of the respiratory system in 1990 from the same university, and clinical immunology and allergology in 1994 from University of Southampton. He returned to university of Catania to pursue PhD in internal medicine.

Riccardo Polosa (born in July 1961 in Catania) is an Italian respiratory physician. He describe his roles as "Full Professor of Internal Medicine and specialist of Respiratory Diseases and Clinical Immunology at the University of Catania as well as the Founder and Clinical Director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Scientific Director of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) at the same University." The CoEHAR received funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which itself is entirely funded by the tobacco industry Philip Morris International.