"Translational Medicine, intended as a strategy to accelerate the exploitation of basic research to improve the outcome of human disease, is confronting major practical hurdles that have dramatically limited its successful application. BioMed Central has shown strong interest in fostering a journal dedicated to cover all the aspects of this complex endeavor with the ultimate goal of increasing the communication between basic and clinical scientists."

Francesco M Marincola
Bethesda MD, USA

A short biography
Francesco M Marincola graduated from the University of Milan, Italy, in 1978 and after one year of mandatory Military Service as an Italian Air Force Medical Officer, he moved to Stanford University, California where he completed his surgical training as well as research training in transplant and cancer immunology. In 1990 he moved to the National Cancer Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health, USA) where he continued his research in tumor immunology by developing strategies for studying tumor/host interactions in the context of human genetic polymorphism and cancer heterogeneity. Recently, he took a position as Chief of Immunogenetics to broaden the scope of his work to other fields of human immunology in which genetic polymorphism is the hallmark of human disease. His continuous efforts in developing strategies for studying diseases directly in humans, rather than relying on often misleading animal models, has fostered his interested in starting the Journal of Translational Medicine.