Miller School students and faculty may want to brush up on their Italian, in light of an alliance being formulated with the medical school at the University of Pisa in Italy.

"We're talking about having an international affiliation between our medical schools," says Laurence B. Gardner, M.D., professor of medicine and executive dean for education and policy at the Miller School. "This will present an opportunity for the University of Pisa's most advanced and brightest residents to come to the Miller School and spend up to a year in the specialty in which they have been trained in Italy," Gardner adds.

University of Pisa residents may begin arriving as soon as July, or as late as October 2010, Gardner says. The following year, Miller School medical students may be able to spend a one-month elective abroad at the University of Pisa, as part of a two-way exchange.

"We envision a broad program, with the possibilities of exchange at the medical student level, undergraduate level, resident level and faculty level," Gardner notes.

On Dec. 14, the dean of the medical school at the University of Pisa, neurologist Luigi Murri, came to the Miller School to speak with Gardner and Paolo Romanelli, M.D., associate professor of dermatology, who earned his medical degree at the University of Pisa.

Romanelli is largely responsible for the strong ties the medical schools currently enjoy.

"I was born in Pisa and my brother, Marco, is a dermatologist at the University of Pisa," says Romanelli. Their father, Renzo Romanelli, was a University of Pisa professor of medicine, cardiology and geriatrics, before moving his family to Miami in 1977. Renzo Romanelli then became a Miller School voluntary clinical professor of medicine, and retired as one of the school's few emeritus voluntary professors of medicine.

Four years ago, Paolo Romanelli established a bridge between the Miller School and the University of Pisa, after arranging for dermatologists from both schools to meet in Pisa. Since then, Romanelli has been the driving force behind other Miller School and University of Pisa collaborations, including one where Miller School Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., traveled to Italy to give a lecture at the medical school.

"It would benefit students on both sides if they're able to share projects they're working on, as well as their dreams," Romanelli says.