Lucia Ferrara

Lucia Ferrara is an Associate Professor of Practice in Healthcare Management at SDA Bocconi School of Management, Bocconi University, and has been a researcher at Cergas SDA Bocconi since 2016. She serves as Scientific Director of the DISS Network for Directors of Socio-Health Districts, Director of Managerial Training courses in territorial service management and Digital Health, and coordinator of the Healthcare Management path for the MIHMEP Master program.

Her academic qualifications include:

• Master's in Sociology, Social and Health Policy, University of Bologna
• Master's in Health Economics and Policy, Coripe Piemonte
• Ph.D. in Design and Evaluation of Social and Health Policies, University of Bari

Her research centers on clinical governance, population health management, and healthcare process optimization. She investigates service redesign for chronic conditions through bundled financing, data-driven clinical governance implications, and national/international health policy evaluation. Current projects examine clinical networks for rare diseases and oncology, intermediate care development, and policy assessments like Italy's National Chronicity Plan.

Recent publications (2024-2025) emphasize transition care for rare diseases—particularly Spinal Muscular Atrophy—and digital health implementation. Her work includes a 2025 scoping review on multimorbidity economic evaluations and 2024 contributions to SMA transition frameworks, highlighting integrated care pathways, policy evaluation methodologies, and real-world applications of big data in healthcare management.

Professor Ferrara leads research and training initiatives funded by healthcare companies, public institutions, and the European Union, including the multi-year SMALab project on SMA management and evaluations of national health policies such as the National AIDS Plan.

She coordinates the DISS Network for socio-health district directors and participates in international networks including the International Foundation for Integrated Care and the European Healthcare Management Association (EHMA). She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Integrated Care and collaborates with hospitals and medical-scientific societies on healthcare innovation projects.