Full Professor of Cardiology, Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Palermo, Italy and Honorary Consultant in Interventional Cardiology, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital Trust Cardiology, London, England.
During the early years 1985-1992 he received his training in cardiology, nuclear medicine and interventional cardiology at Hammersmith Hospital, London, England under the guidance of Prof Maseri, where very young he spent more than 6 years working in cardiovascular physiopathology and nuclear cardiology and at the same time completing qualifications of specialization in cardiology and nuclear medicine in Italy.
Returning back to Italy in 1996, he has been performing complex Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI), including Chronic Total Occlusions (CTO), bifurcations and left main interventions at the University of Catania, where he was Director of Interventional Cardiology Unit, first at Ferrarotto Hospital, and later since 2006 at Cannizzaro Hospital in the role of Associated Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Catania.
Prof. Galassi was the first european interventional cardiologist to treat CTO percutaneously in 2005 (using coronary collateral circulation as a route for recanalization), a futurist percutaneaous technique 15 years ago, but nowdays executed in some international and italian centers. For this pioneering experience in retrograde CTO revascularization, a revascularization which was approached in the past by surgery alone, he has been nominated the Coordinator of European Guide Lines on CTO Revascularizzation.
From 2014 to 2018 he has been nominated Honorary Consultant in Interventional Cardiology at the University of Zurich and Research Physician (PhD) for Insel Group AG, at University Hospital of Cardiology, Swiss Cardiovascular Center, Bern, Switzerland. He has been the coordinator of the ”European Live Summit on Retrograde CTO revascularization” which in 2017 celebrated the 40th anniversary from first PCI in Zurich by Andreas Gruentzig, in the same place where all began.
Former President of the Euro CTO Club 2014-2017, of which was founding member in 2006, a society who has more than 400 members selected among the most experienced interventionalists around Europe, Prof Galassi influenced the tremendous further technical development of complex revascularization especially CTO’s being one of the key opinion leader in the field of complex coronary interventions around Europe and around the world. He has been the editor of two handbooks from the title “Percutaneous Coronary Interventions for Chronic Total Occlusion: Galassi’s Tips and Tricks” and conducting more than 500 live courses in complex PCI during international and local meetings around the world.
He is visiting professor at the University of Belgrade Serbia and at Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital Trust NHS London, England, and formerly similary has been nominated at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and at University of Bern, Switzerland.
He was awarded many research prizes in cardiology and appointed Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC), of the European Society of Cardiology (FESC) of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Intervention (FSCAI), of the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology (GISE), of the ANMCO and SIC.
He is author of more than 400 publications in the field of physiopathology, nuclear medicine and interventional cardiology on peer reviewed articles