Cristina Basso, a professor at the University of Padua, has been awarded the 'Distinguished Achievement Award 2025' for her outstanding scientific contribution and valuable clinical work at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) conference currently taking place in Boston.

Cristina Basso's keynote lecture focused on the contribution of clinicopathological correlations to the understanding of cardiovascular diseases and took place at the Ether Dome, the historic surgical amphitheater at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which represents the original and largest clinical and research training facility of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University.

This prestigious recognition was awarded to her for her numerous basic and applied research contributions that have significantly advanced knowledge in the field of cardiovascular pathology. In particular, she has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of cardiomyopathies and was a pioneer in implementing endomyocardial biopsy in clinical practice. She is part of the team that identified the disease genes in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.

In her original contributions to sudden cardiac death in young people and athletes, she focused on congenital coronary artery anomalies, conduction system abnormalities in ventricular pre-excitation, and myocarditis. She is the first author of the autopsy guidelines for investigating sudden death, including post-mortem molecular analysis. She is a thought leader in the study of arrhythmic mitral valve prolapse syndrome.

Cristina Basso has an unusually broad and in-depth background in cardiovascular diseases and is recognized worldwide among cardiologists and pathologists as an authoritative figure. She holds a degree in Cardiology and a Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Diseases. She then pursued training in Cardiovascular Pathology and became Board Certified in Pathology. She is a full professor of Pathology at the University of Padua, where she established an international master's program in Cardiovascular Pathology and collaborates in the Ph.D. program in Medical and Translational Sciences.

She has published multiple monographs on arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, cardiac tumors, sudden death in young people and athletes, and valve prostheses.

Currently, Basso is the director of the Cardiovascular Pathology Unit at the University Hospital of Padua and the head of the cardiovascular pathology registry for the Veneto Region, as well as the director of the master’s program in Cardiovascular Pathology. She has been president of the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology USA/Canada and is now president of the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology.