Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Marcella Bellani is an associate professor of Psychiatry at the University of Verona, with clinical activity at the Integrated University Hospital of Verona. Graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Bologna, she obtained a specialization in psychiatry in 2007 and a doctorate in psychological and psychiatric sciences from the University of Verona in 2012. He has delved into the treatment and study of bipolar disorders and the application of neuroimaging techniques for the study of affective and psychotic disorders, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Texas at Houston.
It carries out inpatient and outpatient clinical activities centered on the psycho-pharmacological management of young and adult distress (anxious, affective and psychotic disorders), oriented towards early treatment and rehabilitation.
He is the medical contact person for the Mental Health Center of Verona Sud. He is co-referent for the Rosa outpatient clinic, dedicated to Perinatal mental health. He is a psychiatrist consultant for the Dafne Network in Verona, a service that offers assistance to crime victims.
He is scientific director of the Brain Imaging and Neuropsychology Research Unit of the University of Verona, a research laboratory made up of a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychiatrists, psychologists, computer scientists, physicists and engineers. It conducts studies on morpho-functional brain alterations in adults with bipolar disorders and schizophrenia, aimed at the detection of early biomarkers of pathology that can support more targeted diagnoses and interventions. The translational approach adopted integrates magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychological profiling and psychiatric rehabilitation strategies, with the aim of improving prognosis, early diagnosis, treatment and, consequently, well-being of people with mental disorders.
She is currently the lead in the SOLITAIRE clinical trial, which involves intervention on distress associated with youth social withdrawal (Hikikomori) by a combined approach of psychotherapy and digital cognitive rehabilitation. She collaborates with several international journals and is the author and co-author of over 150 international scientific publications and book volumes or chapters.