Maria Serena Longhi, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Longhi received her medical degree and her specialist training in Infectious Diseases at the University of Verona (Italy). She obtained a PhD degree and received postdoctoral training at King's College London, United Kingdom, where she also held Clinical Lecturer and Senior Lecturer appointments. Dr. Longhi has been at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center since 2015. Currently she serves as Deputy Director of the Center of Inflammation Research within the Department of Anesthesia. Over the years Dr. Longhi's research programs have been funded by the Medical Research Council UK, the NIH and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Dr. Maria Serena Longhi’s research focuses on how immune responses are regulated in chronic inflammatory statuses, including Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and autoimmune hepatitis. Her laboratory studies how the balance between effector and regulatory T cells is modulated at transcriptional level by exogenous and endogenous mediators; and at post-transcriptional level by long noncoding RNAs. Not only these studies provide insight into the mechanisms contributing to disease pathogenesis but also aid the development of new therapeutics to curb inflammation and halt tissue damage.