Member Highlights - February 2025

Riccardo Sacconi, MD, PhD, FEBO

What is a recent project or case you’ve worked on that excited you?

I love imaging in retinal disease because, thanks to retinal imaging, we can see what we tried to think! One of my major fields of interest is type 3 macular neovascularization. Type 3 MNV is a world apart from all other types of neovascularizations (different vascular origin, different background, and different prognosis). I would like to characterize the early stages of type 3 MNV (before clinical appearance and symptoms) to better understand the pathogenesis of the disease. Thanks to that, we will be able to select patients with high-risk lesions and to personalize follow-up and treatment of those patients. In this way, thanks to the collaboration between our group (with Giuseppe Querques and Francesco Bandello) and other groups of IntRIS colleagues (David Sarraf, SriniVas Sadda, K. Bailey Freund, Lawrence Yannuzzi, and Eric Souied) we reported the features of “nascent” type 3 MNV and other high-risk lesions preceding the onset of Type 3 MNV (i.e. nascent geographic atrophy).

Another exciting field of interest is to describe and report the features of new diseases or new phenotypes of known diseases. I was excited to report the feature of exudative and non-exudative PVAC (perifoveal vascular anomalous complex) as a new disease that was accepted by our community in the last few years. I was also excited to report GAIN (geographic atrophy-associate intraretinal neovascularization) and subclinical angioid streaks as peculiar phenotypes of age-related macular degeneration. I think that only with the best knowledge of the different nuances of pathology we can better understand its physiopathology and arrive at individualized and effective treatments.

Who has been a mentor or role model for you in ophthalmology, and what’s the best advice they’ve given you?

I consider myself lucky to have found my mentor, Giuseppe Querques, almost 10 years ago. His enthusiasm, his desire for knowledge, to seek and see new things in an era in which retinal imaging opened up new horizons, overwhelmed me. I was a resident in another city and in another University, and I moved to Milan for a retinal fellowship with Giuseppe. After that, I performed my 3-year PhD program with him as Supervisor, and since then I have never left his unit in San Raffaele Hospital! Giuseppe passed on to me his passion for retinal pathologies, retinal imaging, for research and innovation. Our daily comparison has helped me grow over the years and fuels my passion for ophthalmology.

In my professional growth, I thank Francesco Bandello, for introducing me to the world of ophthalmology many years ago. Another source of inspiration was the "Greats" of the medical retina (such as Lawrence Yannuzzi) that I have had the opportunity to meet over the years and who have been a source of inspiration for me thanks to their passion for ophthalmology in their life.

Finally, I would like to thank all the groups with whom I collaborate daily (i.e. SriniVas Sadda, David Sarraf, Eric Souied, Mariacristina Parravano, and many others) because these collaborations are a source of inspiration, comparison, and growth in our research.

How do you support or mentor younger members or trainees in the field?

I love trying to convey my passion for retinal pathologies, imaging, innovation, and research to all the medical students, residents, and fellows of our unit. I support them with daily teaching, discussion of all clinical cases, and accompanying them step by step in the world of research. Motivation and support for their goals are fundamental to my and their professional growth. I always listen to what they think and their thoughts, and I motivate them to search and see things with different eyes than others. Daily comparison is the way to grow. It is a source of pride for me if they manage to achieve their goals, and they will always find in me a shoulder to lean on. If they win, we all win together!

What advice would you give to new members joining the society?