Ilaria is the Co-Director of the Healthy Lifespan Institute, one of the 4 flagship Institutes at the University of Sheffield. She is medically qualified but no longer clinically active. After her PhD in the Department of Experimental Haematology, Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, at the University of Manchester on gene therapy in hematopoietic stem cells, she decided she wanted to focus all her efforts on research. She undertook post-doctoral training in the Department of Immunology, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College, working on leukaemia stem cells and ways to harness the immune system to eliminate them. Here she also developed an interest in bone marrow stromal stem cells. This area of research expanded in subsequent years at the University of Manchester, where she was particularly interested in understanding how stem cells age and impact on the function of blood and bone. Ilaria was appointed Lecturer at the University of Sheffield, she is currently Professor in Musculoskeletal Ageing and very recently she was appointed to lead the Healthy Lifespan Institute.