The Intelligent Health Technologies Lab (IHT Lab) of the Departmental Faculty of Engineering of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma has been designated WHO Collaborating Center on Biomedical Engineering for Global Health from the World Health Organization.
This is a high-profile international recognition, a world first, awarded following years of structured collaboration with the WHO, placing the laboratory—and with it the Faculty of Engineering and the entire University—among the centers called upon to directly contribute to the definition of global health policies as well as future pandemic responses.
The accreditation, which lasts for four years (2026–2030) and is renewable, enables the Centre to support WHO, Ministries of Health, governments and the United Nations system in developing strategies for medical devices throughout their entire life cycle: from research and design, to evaluation and marketing, up to management, maintenance and sustainable disposal.
The designation is part of the new Global Health Strategy 2025–2028 (GPW14) of the WHO, which aims to promote, provide, and protect health by strengthening equity and the resilience of health systems. In this context, the Center will operate as a technical-scientific hub to translate global priorities into concrete actions, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to defining the United Nations' future global health priorities. The WHO does not have its own internal laboratory, but delegates all research and study activities to over 800 CCs located around the world.
Obtaining WHO Collaborating Centre status requires at least three years of documented collaboration and formal assignments with WHO. In this process, the Prof. Leandro Pecchia played a leading role, having also held the position of WHO Innovation Manager for the program WHE IPC (Infection Prevention and Control) from 2020 al 2023, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and contributing to the development of innovative solutions to address urgent global health needs.
Since 2022, the relationship has been institutionalized and UCBM continued to support the WHO at key moments, including with formal institutional roles, such as the study of nanotechnologies to make PPE more resilient to viruses, coordinated by Dr. Basoli; coordinating the writing of the second edition of the WHO volume "Development of medical device policies" (2025) and the second edition of the WHO document "Medical device donations: considerations for solicitation and provision” (2024), coordinated by Prof. Pecchia and his lab.
The designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre further enhances the University's and the Departmental Faculty of Engineering's strategy in the field of global health education. Specifically, it aligns with the development of the curriculum. Information Technology and AI for Global Health within the Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering, launched in 2025.
The recognition will allow students to be directly involved UCBM in WHO activities, offering a unique opportunity for experiential and value-based teaching, working closely with experts from all continents and on global health decision-making and operational processes.
In this sense, the Center represents an international unparalleled achievement: it is the first WHO Collaborating Center in the world in this specific area and the only one to be located within a Faculty of Engineering. This positioning reinforces the role of engineering as a key discipline in addressing global health challenges. The other European engineering school hosting a Collaborating Center is Politecnico di Milano, whose Department focuses primarily on hospital architecture and ventilation systems.
Aiming to anticipate the future needs of healthcare systems and help define future global priorities, in addition to supporting existing policies, the Center will play a strategic role in identifying emerging technological areas not yet fully integrated into global agendas, such as medical device cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies.
A distinctive feature of this initiative is the strong involvement of young people, which also makes the Center a concrete platform for engaging with the work of the United Nations.
On the front line Marianna Zarro, PhD student and focal point of together with Prof. Pecchia, already actively involved in WHO activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the publications cited above and in supporting the definition of intervention lines for the recent Marburg virus outbreak.
With her, Marta Romano, PM of the Intesa Sanpalo Observatory on Global Health Technologies, e Sara Cinelli, Project Manager of the Afya Moja project, contributed to the WHO work on the revision of the MedDev information system with fieldwork in Kenya.
Still within the same project, a group of 9 students from the Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering (Global Health curriculum) will be a Cape Town in May to support the strengthening of the participation of African experts in the work of the WHO, through the organization of seminars, workshops and collaborative activities.
Through research, data collection, analysis and technology assessment, the WHO Collaborating CentreUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma will help strengthen global medical device policies and promote more equitable, safe and sustainable access to health technologies, particularly in resource-limited settings.
This is not a recognition, but a renewed responsibility: to contribute, together with the WHO, to defining the future of global health, at a time when the value of the United Nations and international cooperation seems to be challenged by new conflicts, divisive politics, and new nationalisms.
