Francesco Sala is Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery at the University of Verona, in Italy. His main fields of clinical and research interest are Neuro-Oncology, Pediatric Neurosurgery and Intraoperative Neurophysiology.
He trained in Intraoperative Neurophysiology with Dr. Vedran Deletis, as Clinical Fellow at the Beth Israel’s Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery (1998-1999). Upon his return to Italy, he established the Intraoperative Neurophysiology Unit at the Department of Neurosurgery in Verona where, in the past twentyfive years, more than 4500 elective adult and pediatric neurosurgical procedures have been performed under neurophysiological guidance, with a focus on brain tumors in eloquent areas, posterior fossa tumors, intramedullary spinal cord tumors, and spinal dysraphisms. In 2005 Dr. Sala was one of the co-founders of the International Society for Intraoperative Neurophysiology, where he has served as Secretary (2009-2011), Chairman of the Education Committee (2011-2013), and President (2013-2015).
In 2003-2004 Dr. Sala was Clinical Fellow at the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He has served as Chair of the Liaison Committee (2007-2011) and Chair of the Scientific Committee (2018-2021) for the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, Chair of the Website and Communication Committee (2008-2012) and Liaison Chair (2018-2022) for the European Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery.
He is particularly committed to the training of young neurosurgeons and the development of intraoperative neurophysiology within the global neurosurgical community. He has been member of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS) Training Course faculty since 2010. He has served as Executive Board member of the EANS first as Scientific Chair (2017-2021), Treasurer (2021-2023), President Elect (2023-2025) and, now, President (2025-2027). In 2016 he was appointed as first Chair of the Neuromonitoring Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies. In 2020-2022 Prof. Sala was Vice-President of the Italian Neurosurgical Society.
Over the past years, his research has focused on the implementation of peri-operative neurophysiological techniques to assess motor function in adult and pediatric patients with brain tumors involving primary and secondary motor areas with the ultimate goal of preventing neurological morbidity and improve the onco-functional balance in the surgical treatment of brain tumors.
Dr. Sala has authored or co-authored more than 180 peer-reviewed papers, 30 book chapters and has presented over 450 invited lectures at national and international conferences.