ISTITUTO GIANNINA GASLINI

Their core work

Istituto Giannina Gaslini is a major Italian paediatric hospital and research centre in Genova, specializing in childhood diseases — from rare genetic conditions to paediatric oncology. Within H2020, they contribute clinical expertise to large European networks focused on paediatric clinical trials, childhood cancer survivorship, and cystic fibrosis treatment. Their work bridges the gap between clinical care for children and the development of evidence-based guidelines, digital health records, and long-term follow-up protocols for young cancer survivors.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the earlier phase (2016–2018), Gaslini focused on foundational paediatric medicine — clinical trial infrastructure for children, drug development, and therapeutic approaches for conditions like cystic fibrosis. From 2019 onward, their work shifted decisively toward cancer survivorship: person-centred care, lifestyle interventions, clinical guidelines for adult survivors of childhood cancer, and digital tools like electronic health records. This represents a clear move from acute treatment and trial infrastructure toward long-term outcomes and digital implementation.

Gaslini is moving toward implementation science and digital tools for long-term paediatric cancer follow-up, making them a strong partner for projects combining clinical oncology with eHealth solutions.

How they like to work

Gaslini operates exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator, which is typical for a specialist clinical institution contributing domain expertise to large research networks. With 93 unique consortium partners across 21 countries, they are well-connected and comfortable in large multinational consortia (their projects average 20+ partners). This makes them an accessible and experienced partner — they know how large EU projects work and bring deep clinical knowledge without seeking to lead the administrative side.

Gaslini has collaborated with 93 unique partners across 21 countries, giving them a broad European network heavily concentrated in paediatric health. Their repeated involvement in PanCare-branded projects suggests strong ties to the PanCare childhood cancer survivorship community.

What sets them apart

Gaslini is one of Europe's leading paediatric hospitals, which gives them direct access to patient populations — children, adolescents, and neonates — that are notoriously difficult to include in clinical research. Their dual presence in both clinical trial networks (c4c) and survivorship care (PanCare projects) means they can follow a patient's journey from diagnosis through long-term follow-up. For any consortium needing a paediatric clinical site in Italy with real-world patient data and ethical approval infrastructure, Gaslini is a natural choice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• c4c
  Largest project by funding (EUR 523K to Gaslini), building a pan-European clinical trials network specifically for children — a critical infrastructure gap in paediatric medicine.
• PanCareSurPass
  Bridges clinical oncology with digital health by implementing electronic Survivorship Passports, representing Gaslini's move into implementation science and health IT interoperability.
• TREL
  A twinning/capacity-building project with Lithuania, showing Gaslini's willingness to mentor institutions in widening countries and transfer paediatric oncology expertise.