Assoc Prof Claudia Di Bella

A/Prof Claudia Di Bella is an academic orthopaedic surgeon in Melbourne, with main focus in joint arthroplasty and bone and soft tissue tumours. A/Prof Di Bella studied medicine and surgery at Bologna University, the first established University in Europe, graduating in 2002 with honours. She has completed her orthopaedic training in 2007 at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute in Bologna, one of the world's most renowned orthopaedic hospitals. Her passion for the treatment of bone and soft tissue tumours started there, where she had the privilege to work alongside the world's best tumour surgeons, with Prof Davide Donati as her mentor.

She moved to Australia in 2009, where she has completed her fellowship in musculoskeletal tumours at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) and a Fellow of the Australian Orthopaedic Association (FAOrthA).
A/Prof Di Bella is expert in lower limb joint replacement surgery, which she performs using the most advanced technologies, including 3D printing and robotic. Ms Di Bella is also one of the very few orthopaedic surgeons in Australia with certified expertise in the treatment of bone and soft tissue tumours (member of Australian Sarcoma Group).

Her focus on academic surgery and research have driven her to obtain a PhD in oncology and experimental pathology in 2012, with top marks. She is a faculty member in Academic Surgery at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), a member of Women in Surgery at the RACS and is on the Board of Directors of the Australian Orthopaedic Society Research Foundation.

She is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, with an impressive number of publications in peer reviewed journals and oral presentations at national and international conferences. Her main focus in basic science research is the use of 3D Bioprinting technologies and stem cells for the treatment of joint injuries and diseases, for which she has obtained numerous national research grants.

A/Prof Di Bella is the head of the Cartilage Regeneration Program of Research within the department of surgery at the University of Melbourne.