"The pride in the path we have traveled heightens our responsibility to contribute to a great challenge of our civilization: linking innovation with accessibility. For all citizens, for the elderly, for those countries at risk of being left out of the enormous potential offered by innovation." With those words, Gianfelice Rocca set the tone for the celebration that, on April 20, brought together national and regional authorities in Rozzano, Italy, to commemorate the institute's 30th anniversary.
Rocca stressed that public-private collaboration "is more necessary than ever" and that "the great Teaching Research Hospitals must make their contribution" in a context marked by an aging population and rising treatment costs.
Humanitas was born thirty years ago from the convergence of Milan's clinical culture, the scientific management tradition of the Politecnico di Milano, the Università Bocconi and Harvard, and the entrepreneurial culture of the Techint Group. Today, it is a community of more than 9,400 professionals, 12 hospitals across Lombardy, Piedmont, and Sicily, 25 Medical Care centers, a university campus with 3,200 students from over 80 countries, and 800 researchers. Over three decades, it has treated approximately 10% of the Italian population. Each year, 150,000 people access its four emergency departments, and more than 50,000 patients are under treatment at its Cancer Center in Rozzano. "These figures reflect only a part of the energy of a community of professionals united by the goal of delivering the best treatments to patients," Rocca highlighted.
The event was attended by Vice President of the Senate Licia Ronzulli; Undersecretary for the Economy Federico Freni; President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana; Mayor of Milan Beppe Sala; President of the Milan City Council Elena Buscemi; and Mayor of Rozzano Mattia Ferretti, among other officials. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Health Minister Orazio Schillaci addressed the audience. Also speaking were Luciano Ravera, CEO of the Humanitas Group; Patrizia Meroni, Medical Director; Luigi Maria Terracciano, Scientific Director of the IRCCS and Rector of Humanitas University; and Alberto Mantovani, President of the Fondazione Humanitas per la Ricerca.
In her message, Meloni defined Humanitas as "a concrete example of the success of the synergy between public and private sectors" and highlighted that the institute has built "a virtuous model that combines clinical quality and sustainability, research and care, excellence and responsibility toward the community." The Prime Minister also underscored the government's commitment to health research: over one billion euros in European and national funds have been allocated to projects for new therapies and the strengthening of the healthcare system, including more than 500 projects financed through the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), many of them linked to oncological pathologies and rare diseases.
Health Minister Schillaci, for his part, recognized the institute's scientific trajectory: "Your steadfast commitment to translational research aligns with the vision we are promoting at the Ministry: a healthcare system grounded in scientific evidence, innovation, and the ability to rapidly transfer research findings into clinical practice." He also highlighted that Humanitas is one of the first hospitals to have developed an integrated artificial intelligence center where clinicians, researchers, and engineers work together to optimize diagnostic and therapeutic pathways.
In Rocca's words, looking ahead, they face "a challenge in which the universalist vision that drives us confronts economic sustainability, calling on all of us to assume a moral responsibility that is the key to our civilization."
The highlight of the day was the inauguration of the Proton Building, a 6,435 m² facility dedicated entirely to oncology. It houses two pillars: proton therapy, an advanced form of radiation therapy that uses high-energy proton beams to treat tumors with extreme precision while significantly reducing exposure to healthy tissue; and the Clinical Trial Unit, an area with 25 treatment stations and 4 consulting rooms for Phase 1 and Phase 2/3 clinical trials, providing access to cutting-edge experimental therapies—from antibody-drug conjugates to advanced immunotherapies and CAR-T cell therapies.
The building also features 30 multispecialty consulting rooms, two state-of-the-art CT scanners, and an expansion of the Oncology Day Hospital. Currently, 180 clinical studies are underway in oncology and 68 in onco-hematology, with more than 560 patients treated in 2025.
Ravera explained that innovation extends beyond infrastructure: artificial intelligence has already been integrated into hospital operations to assist with diagnosis and automatic transcription of consultations, reducing administrative burden and fostering the doctor-patient relationship. Complementing this is the "distributed hospital" model, which brings the university hospital's experience to the broader community through a network of professionals and quality standards that ensure continuity of care.
