Sandro Contini took his medical degree in 1971. He is specialist in General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Gastrointestinal Surgery and GI endoscopy. In 1982 he spent one year at the Department of Surgery of the Cambridge University (UK) being involved in clinical and research activity. In 2000 he was appointed Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Parma Italy. For several years after his degree he has been dedicated to vascular surgery, diagnostic and operative endoscopy, as evidenced in papers published on international journals, gastrointestinal surgery and surgical and endoscopic management of complications of portal hypertension (bleeding esophageal varices). He performed laparoscopic surgery since 1991 and, apart from performing most abdominal laparoscopic procedures, he was mainly dedicated to the laparoscopic treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease. This argument was object of several papers on international journals. Since 2004 he was involved in surgical missions in developing countries and in conflict areas with the Italian NGO “Emergency”, “Doctors without Borders” and the international Committee of the Red Cross. This allowed him to specifically dedicate to trauma and war surgery in austere environment. Moreover, he developed in Sierra Leone a project dedicated to the endoscopic management of the upper GI caustic injuries in children, particularly frequent in that country as confirmed by publications in international surgical and endoscopic journals. During these years he was a reviewer for several academic journals and he is a member of the Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgery (GIEESC) at WHO.