Dr. Paolo Macchiarini is head and chairman of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, University of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, as well as professor of surgery at the University of Barcelona in Spain, and at the Hannover Medical School in Hannover, Germany.

Dr. Macchiarini completed his residency in thoracic surgery at the University of Pisa in Pisa, Italy. Dr. Macchiarini completed a fellowship in the department of thoracic surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, Alabama, with an additional fellowship completed in the department of thoracic and vascular surgery and heart-lung transplantation, Hôpital Marie-Lannelongue, Paris-Sud University, Le Plessis Robinson, France.

Dr. Macchiarini's interests include extended surgery for lung, esophageal, and mediastinal tumors; adult and pediatric tracheal surgery; lung and heart-lung transplantation; pulmonary endarterectomy; (bio)artificial lung; and experimental research, education, training.