The University of Florida Institute on Aging welcomed Stefano Cacciatore, MD, to its research community in early 2026 as a visiting researcher supported by the Ermenegildo Zegna Founder’s Scholarship.
Dr. Cacciatore is a geriatrician and epidemiologist trained at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome. His work focuses on healthy aging and the preservation of function, with a research program increasingly centered on the World Health Organization healthy aging framework and the concept of intrinsic capacity.
Intrinsic capacity brings together the physical and mental capacities that people can draw on in daily life. Dr. Cacciatore’s research examines how these capacities can be measured, how they change over time, and how they relate to mobility, disability, and independence across aging trajectories.
His background also includes clinical geriatrics, epidemiology and biostatistics, community-based prevention, and population health. At the Institute on Aging, this work is being extended through secondary analyses of major aging studies and collaborations focused on functional health and healthy longevity.
Dr. Cacciatore also serves as an Editor for BMC Geriatrics.