My time at Collegio Nuovo brought a sense of clarity in my goals, perhaps the first appreciation of the value of a good institution, optimism about the future. My professional choice, my passion for teaching and research, and my desire to work with others to develop a common project were based on this experience.
Among the first 24 students who crossed the threshold of the newly founded Collegio Nuovo in November 1978, Barbara arrived from Cervia to complete the dozen first-year students in Medicine. She remained there until her graduation in 1984, apart from a short stay in Mainz, thanks to the College. Afterwards, having begun specializing in Cardiology with Prof. Achille Venco, in 1989 she left for Oxford to specialize in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the John Radcliffe Hospital. She is one of the first Alumnae to take advantage of the College's new post-graduate scholarships abroad, established on the occasion of its tenth anniversary (1988): she should have stayed for six months and instead she remained in Oxford, completing the stages one after the other. of a career on the rise. She will tell the Pavia academic community about the College: «What made the College so special for me was the daily relationship with people of different origins, interests and aspirations than mine. Competition and insecurity, which are such common feelings at that age, were tempered by the calm daily life of our meals together and by the tolerant and ironic attitude of Paola Bernardi, our Rector. For me, as an only child, college life had such an impact that it is probably no coincidence that I found myself so comfortable in Oxford (a university city with 36 colleges), where this type of existence can continue until retirement. and beyond!»
Among the first challenges
Guest of honor at the University of Pavia for Graduates' Day in 1995, in her speech in front of a packed audience of the academic community, Barbara does not forget the specificity of professional challenges as a woman. She can do it well because the year before not only did she give birth to her first child, but she won the Young Research Worker Prize of the British Cardiac Society. And, in 1998, in her speech for the twentieth anniversary of the College, as President of the Alumnae, she was well aware of the transformative potential of women: «It is important that women aim high not only to satisfy personal ambitions, but also and above all to contribute to make industry and the academic world an environment suitable for women.» (Nuovità, n. 9).
Today
Since 2006 Barbara has been the first and only Full Professor (female) in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford. A record that is a personal achievement, but also a symbol for many women and for an institution like the Collegio Nuovo. An institution to which Barbara, like many Alumnae, has always remained very close, with her availability and support, also as an "ambassador". In 2013, a Nuovina specializing in Cardiology will be able to work alongside her for an internship…. The record continues if we consider that she was nominated, the only woman, British Heart Foundation Professor in the United Kingdom, a recognition that allows many young talents to train with her in Oxford! Not to mention the fact that she was elected President (first woman) of the European Society of Cardiology.
Her advice
Barbara doesn't like to give advice, but those who have listened to her on various occasions, such as that of Graduates' Day, can take some inspiration from stories like this: «I then arrived in Pavia with my first-class 'medal', convinced to be 'special'. The first step towards downsizing and an adult life for me dates back to the moment before the entrance exam, when, chatting with the other competitors, I realized that I was, in that context, just average, certainly not among the most brilliant. This realization was fundamental to my academic development and influenced the rest of my professional choices. – The value of an institution lies in those who are part of it; the habit of listening and the esteem for the talent of many companions began in those years a long journey towards openness and distancing from what appears narrow or too comfortable until the realization of a choice: to live, perhaps like a small fish, but in the ocean, collegially.»
