Dr. Flavia Vitale is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a core faculty member of the Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics, the Brain Science, Translation, Innovation, and Modulation, and of the Translational Center of Excellence for Gene & Molecular Therapy at Penn and of the Center of Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration & Restoration at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. Her research interests focus on flexible bioelectronic materials and devices for high-resolution, minimally invasive neural recording and stimulation.
A native of Rome, Italy, Dr. Vitale earned her B.S. and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the Università Campus Biomedico di Roma in 2008. In 2012 she received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the Università di Roma “La Sapienza”. Dr. Vitale completed her postdoctoral training at Rice University, where she worked on high-performance biomaterials and bioelectronic interfaces based on carbon nanomaterials, followed by a neuroengineering research training in the Penn Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics.
Dr. Vitale has authored more than 15 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications and is a co-inventor on six patent applications. Her work has been featured by several media outlets including NSF Science 360 news, ACS Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN), Wired UK, Engadget, Houston Business Journal, Texas Medical Center (TMC) News, La Repubblica (it). She has received various awards including the Graduate Research Fellowship from the Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, the Welch Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Taking Flight Award from Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, the Penn Health Tech Award and the McCabe Fellow Award.