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Private company

Istituto Superiore di Sanità

Logo: iss.it3

Italian public health institution

The National Institute of Health (Italian: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, lit. 'Higher Health Institute'), also ISS, is an Italian public institution that, as the leading technical-scientific body of the Italian National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale), performs research, trials, control, counseling, documentation and training for public health. The Institute is under the supervision of the Ministry of Health (Ministero della Salute).2 It is part of Ministry of Health of Italy.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Apr 21, 1934Founded1

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Sede ISS
Photo: Carlo Dani, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

The National Institute of Health (Italian: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, lit. 'Higher Health Institute'), also ISS, is an Italian public institution that, as the leading technical-scientific body of the Italian National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale), performs research, trials, control, counseling, documentation and training for public health. The Institute is under the supervision of the Ministry of Health (Ministero della Salute).2

The story

The official opening of the ISS, called Institute of Public Health (Istituto di Sanità Pubblica), took place on April 21, 1934.

The construction of the main building in Rome, designed by architect Giuseppe Amendola, started on July 6, 1931 and it was financed by the American Rockefeller Foundation.

In 1941 the Institute of Public Health (Istituto di Sanità Pubblica) assumed its present name of the National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità).

In 1958 the ISS came under the protection of the Ministry of Health, from the Ministry of Interior.

ISS Directors (then Presidents)

Gaetano Basile (1934–35)

Dante De Blasi (1935)

Domenico Marotta (1935–61)

Giordano Giacomello (1961–64)

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Giovan Battista Marini Bettolo Marconi (1964–72)

Francesco Pocchiari (1972–89)

Vincenzo Longo (1989)

Francesco Antonio Manzoli (1989–93)

Giuseppe Vicari (1993–95)

Aurelia Sargentini (1995–96)

Giuseppe Benagiano (1996–2001)

Enrico Garaci (2001–13)

Fabrizio Oleari (2013–14)

Gualtiero Ricciardi (2015–18); Commissioner (2014–15)

Silvio Brusaferro (2019–2023); Commissioner (first seven months of 2019)

Rocco Bellantone (2024-present); Commissioner (2023-2024)

Nobel Prize Winners

Daniel Bovet

Ernst Boris Chain

Enrico Fermi

Rita Levi Montalcini

From Wikipedia’s article on National Institute of Health (Italy), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Leadership

Who has led Istituto Superiore di Sanità, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Board members and other officers (5)

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

  • Ministry of Health of Italy

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Apr 21, 1934Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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