In memory of Franco Cuccurullo
“Vision” is an English word, hard to translate into Italian, meaning ability to imagine the future and prepare in advance to its challenges. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, this term also implies imagination, creativity, ingenuity, and originality, summarized into ability to "invent", in Latin “to find what is novel”. A capacity of vision was the hallmark of Franco Cuccurullo, who sadly passed away on March 13, 2021.
His unique ability to envision the future is attested by the heritage he left, which is now the distinctive feature of the "Gabriele d'Annunzio" University. At the age of 37, Franco moved from Bologna to Chieti, where, soon after, he was appointed Professor of Medical Pathology. A brave resolution had driven him from one of the oldest and most prestigious academic institutions in the world, the “Alma Mater” University of Bologna, to a newly founded University situated in a rather isolated area. Perhaps, he had then the same thought of Julius Caesar: "it is better to be first in a small village than second in Rome".
Strongly committed to his personal "vision" Franco worked in Chieti for about 40 years, always convinced that the small "village" could one day reach the glory of the Capital. He was intelligent, dynamic, skilled and tenacious, consequently, shortly after becoming Full Professor of Internal Medicine, was elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. Under his guidance, within ten years, the Faculty was strengthened and rapidly transformed into a strong academic institution that recruited valuable Academicians at the national and international level and expressed its excellence in the international research arena. Subsequently, Franco became Rector of the Gabriele d’Annunzio University and held this key position for over 12 years with unchanged enthusiasm and passion, gaining year after year consent and support. Meantime he promoted a steady stream of important investments in research and development, and the University continued to grow in its twin seats of Chieti and Pescara, acquiring new buildings and facilities for advanced translational research, such as the Center of Studies on Ageing (Ce.S.I.), presently denominated Center of Advanced Science and Technology (CAST), and the Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB). The “Madonna delle Piane” headquarter soon developed into an outstanding "Campus", known and admired by scholars of Italian and foreign Universities, who only a few years earlier could barely place Chieti on the map. The national stature of Franco Cuccurullo grew along with that of the University, and he became one of the leading experts of the Italian university and health system, serving as Member of the Agency of Medicines of the Ministry of Health, as President of the Steering Committee for Research Evaluation of the Ministry of University and Research, and, finally, as President of the National Health Council and of the National Committee for Biosafety, Biotechnology and Life Sciences.
In each of these functions and roles Franco pursued a path of continuous innovation, supported by his vision and skills: we like to think, sure to be not far from truth, that among all his extraordinary projects, the one that he cared most about, and that he always kept in his heart, was the foundation of the CeSI research center, now renamed CAST.
Agostino Consoli
Carlo Patrono
Chieti, April 16, 2003. Inauguration of the CeSI, Center of Studies on Ageing (presently denominated Center of Advanced Science and Technology, CAST)
Opening Ceremony. From the left: Prof Franco Cuccurullo, Rector of the Gabriele d’Annunzio University, Dr. Letizia Maria Moratti, Italian minister of Instruction, University and Reasearch, Prof Piero Musiani, Director of the CeSI.
First visit to the Center. From the left: Prof Franco Cuccurullo, Dr Letizia Maria Moratti, Prof Piero Musiani.