Chiara Pittalis

Chiara Pittalis is a Research Fellow at the RCSI Institute of Global Surgery, School of Population Health, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Her work focuses on improving healthcare delivery in low-resource settings through interdisciplinary collaboration with government, NGOs, and private sectors. She holds a PhD from RCSI (2021), MEconSc from NUI Galway (2010), and BSc in Economics (2009). Her research emphasizes participatory approaches to address health systems challenges, particularly maternal health, surgical access, and climate change impacts.

Education:

• PhD, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (2021)
• MEconSc in Policy Planning & Evaluation, National University of Ireland, Galway (2010)
• BSc in Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway (2009)

Research Focus:

• Global surgery equity and health systems strengthening
• Climate change adaptation in healthcare
• Patient-centered care and surgical safety
• Participatory action research methodologies

Recent Projects:

• Lead researcher in SURG-Water (SFI-funded, €1.2M) addressing water scarcity’s impact on maternal healthcare in Malawi
• Contributed to the SURG-Africa project (€6M, 2017–2021) improving rural surgical access in East Africa
• Investigated breast cancer care access in low-resource settings (Akazi project, IRC-funded)

Teaching & Supervision:

• Supervised MSc Healthcare Management capstone projects
• Delivered global surgery modules at RCSI and Stellenbosch University
• Contributed to surgical research methodology training for African healthcare professionals

Labs/Teams: Active in the RCSI Institute of Global Surgery and collaborates with partners in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.