Davide Pacini graduated from the University of Bologna in 1993. He completed his Cardiac surgery residency training at the same University in 1998. Since 2000, he has been a staff surgeon at the S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna. He is mainly interested in cardiac and aortic surgery. In 1998 he was the recipient of the C Walton Lillehei Award and in 2009 he received the Hans Borst Award. He is a Councillor of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery and an author of over 70 scientific papers and 4 book chapters. He is an active member of the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery, the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He is Full Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna and Chair of the Cardiac Surgery Department in Bologna (S.Orsola Hospital).