Ferdinando Petrazzuoli

President, European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association (EURIPA)

Executive Board Member, WONCA Europe

Ferdinando Petrazzuoli, MD, MSc, PhD is a family physician, researcher, and academic with more than 40 years of clinical experience providing comprehensive primary care in a rural community in Southern Italy. He is internationally recognised for his contributions to primary care research, rural medicine, and the advancement of family medicine across Europe.

Dr. Petrazzuoli earned his PhD in Clinical Sciences from the Center for Primary Health Care Research at Lund University, Sweden, where his doctoral research focused on dementia management in European primary care. He also holds an MSc in Primary Care and General Practice from the University of Ulster, United Kingdom, and completed his specialist training in Cardiology at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.

He currently serves as President of the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association (EURIPA), a network of WONCA Europe, and is a Member-at-Large of the WONCA Europe Executive Board. He is also an Executive Board member of the WONCA Europe Special Interest Group on Social Prescribing and Community Orientation and a member of the WONCA Working Party on Mental Health.

From 2010 to 2019, Dr Petrazzuoli served on the Executive Board of the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN), completing three terms as Vice-Chair. He remains an active member of the EGPRN Educational Committee, where he leads the development of the Web-Based Research Course, supporting research capacity building for primary care professionals across Europe.

Since 2022, Dr Petrazzuoli has been a Contract Professor at the School of Specialisation in Community Medicine and Primary Care at the University of Naples Federico II. He is also affiliated with the Centre for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden. His research interests include dementia, multimorbidity, telemedicine, rural health, mental health, and strengthening primary care systems. He serves as Section Editor for Telemedicine, Geriatrics, and Multimorbidity for Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine.

Throughout his career, Dr Petrazzuoli has combined frontline clinical practice with international leadership, education, and research, making significant contributions to the development of evidence-based primary care and the promotion of equitable healthcare for rural and underserved populations.

Updated: July 2026