49 Facts About Paolo Macchiarini

Paolo Macchiarini was born on 22 August 1958 and is a thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and manipulative behavior.

Paolo Macchiarini was convicted of research-related crimes in Italy and Sweden.

Previously considered a pioneer for using both biological and synthetic scaffolds seeded with patients' own stem cells as trachea transplants, Macchiarini was a visiting professor and director on a temporary contract at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet from 2010.

Paolo Macchiarini was convicted of unethically performing experimental surgeries, even on relatively healthy patients, resulting in fatalities for seven of the eight patients who received one of his synthetic trachea transplants.

Paolo Macchiarini was convicted of causing bodily harm, but not assault.

Paolo Macchiarini obtained his medical degree at the Medical School of the University of Pisa in 1986 and a Master of Surgery in 1991.

Paolo Macchiarini was an assistant professor at UniPi from 1990 to 1992.

Paolo Macchiarini claimed he was a fellow for approximately two years in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1989, though this was refuted later by the university as they did not have a department of thoracic surgery, nor do they have one currently.

Paolo Macchiarini was an investigator at the Institut d'Investigacions Biomediques in Barcelona, Spain, from 2006 to 2009; he was affiliated with but not an employee of the University of Barcelona and was apparently an employee at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona during this time.

Paolo Macchiarini had an honorary appointment as a visiting professor from 2009 to 2014, at University College London.

Paolo Macchiarini was a consultant and project manager at University Hospital Careggi starting in 2010.

Later in 2010, Paolo Macchiarini was appointed as a visiting professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and as a part-time position as surgeon at the affiliated university hospital.

In 2013, his clinical relationship with KI was terminated, but Paolo Macchiarini was able to continue his research at the institute.

Paolo Macchiarini made ties in Russia after he gave a master class in 2010, at the invitation of politician Mikhail Batin; a few months later he did a trachea transplant there which was widely covered in Russian media.

In June 2008, Paolo Macchiarini conducted a transplant of a donated trachea colonized with the stem cells of the recipient, Claudia Castillo; the tissue was used to replace her left bronchus, which had been damaged by tuberculosis, and her left lung had collapsed.

In March 2010, Paolo Macchiarini only attended a transplant performed by Great Ormond Street surgeons.

In 2010, Paolo Macchiarini performed a transplant similar to the earlier two; the transplant failed almost a year later and a synthetic trachea was implanted for palliative care at University College Hospital London in 2011.

Paolo Macchiarini was discharged home late October 2011 and re-admitted early November 2011 for a change of tracheostomy tube.

Paolo Macchiarini then succumbed to hospital-acquired pneumonia which led to her death in January 2012.

In 2010, Paolo Macchiarini implanted a seeded donated trachea in a 25-year-old woman in Russia, Zhadyra Iglikova, while working with surgeon Vladimir Parshin.

Paolo Macchiarini died in 2018 due to complications from chronic pneumonia, a tracheoesophageal fistula and severe malnutrition.

Beyene's doctors recommended palliative care, but reached out to Paolo Macchiarini, who was at KI by that time.

Paolo Macchiarini heard about Beyene's treatment and through his doctor asked Macchiarini to do the same for him.

Paolo Macchiarini obliged, creating a fully synthetic trachea seeded with stem cells from Lyles and implanting it at KI in November 2011.

In June 2012, Paolo Macchiarini implanted a fully synthetic seeded trachea in Yulia Tuulik at Kuban State Medical University.

The graft included a cricoid cartilage, part of the voice box, which Paolo Macchiarini had not tried before.

An audit by the Russian government later found that Paolo Macchiarini had operated without a Russian medical license.

Also in June 2012, Paolo Macchiarini implanted a second synthetic seeded trachea on Alexander Zozulya, who had a tracheostomy resulting from a car accident and whose life was not in danger.

Paolo Macchiarini came to Macchiarini at the KI for treatment, and in 2012 he first removed her left lung and replaced her trachea with a pipe, then replaced the pipe with a fully synthetic seeded trachea.

The next year the implant collapsed and Paolo Macchiarini replaced it with a second one.

In June 2014, Paolo Macchiarini implanted a fully synthetic seeded trachea in Dmitri Onogda at the Kuban State Medical University.

In 2012, Paolo Macchiarini was arrested in Italy and charged with asking patients at AOUC for money to expedite their procedures; the charges were dismissed in May 2015 and the prosecutor's appeal was dismissed in September 2015.

In 2014, Paolo Macchiarini was accused by four former colleagues and co-authors of having falsified claims in his research with KI.

Gerdin found that Paolo Macchiarini had committed scientific misconduct in seven papers by not getting ethical approval for some of his operations, and misrepresenting the result of some of those operations, as well as work he had done on animals.

The Lancet, which published Paolo Macchiarini's work, published an article defending him.

Later that day, the SVT investigative program Dokument inifran began broadcasting a three-part series, titled "Experimenten", in which Paolo Macchiarini's work was investigated.

The documentary shows Paolo Macchiarini continuing operations with his new transplant method even after it showed little or no promise, exaggerating the health of his patients in articles as they died.

Paolo Macchiarini stated that the synthetic trachea had been tested on animals before using it on humans, something that could not be verified.

In June 2016 Swedish police opened an investigation into whether Paolo Macchiarini might have committed involuntary manslaughter.

Paolo Macchiarini received a suspended sentence on 16 June 2022.

Paolo Macchiarini's lawyers lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court, and were granted time to present new evidence.

In 1986, Paolo Macchiarini married Italian woman Emanuela Pecchia; the couple have two children together, a girl and a boy.

Paolo Macchiarini has a daughter by Ana Paula Bernardes, who met Macchiarini in 2010 when he operated on her son Danilo, who died shortly after the operation.

Paolo Macchiarini began an affair with her subject, only to find out later in 2015 that he had been married for almost thirty years, including the entire period of their courtship.

Alexander recounted Paolo Macchiarini's alleged lies about being a surgeon to the stars and current and former heads of state such as former USA Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and former USA presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Paolo Macchiarini is reported to have claimed that Pope Francis had given his personal blessing for the wedding between the couple, both said to be divorcees, and would host the ceremony at Castel Gandolfo.

The Pope's spokesman subsequently said that the Pope had no "personal doctor" named Paolo Macchiarini, knew nobody of that name, and would not have officiated.

On 31 October 2016, Paolo Macchiarini was the subject of a BBC Four Storyville miniseries entitled "Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon".

The second series of the podcast's television adaptation premiered on December 21,2023 and centered on Paolo Macchiarini, portrayed by actor Edgar Ramirez.