The Seal of St. Wenceslas to Stefano Merler

On Saturday, June 26, Saint Vigilius’s day, the mayor of Trento Franco Ianeselli awarded the seal of San Wenceslao, the highest honor of the city, to Stefano Merler, epidemiologist, director of the Health Emergencies Center at Fondazione Bruno Kessler, as well as consultant of the Institute of health and of the Scientific Technical Committee of the Ministry of Health, for his commitment to developing strategies for contrasting the epidemiological emergency caused by the spread of the Coronavirus.

It is the first time that this seal has been conferred as a recognition for someone’s ‘activism‘ and not for their career, to a personality who in this very complex situation has been able to lead the community not only locally, but nationally and internationally, through the rationality and authoritative prudence of science.

The award-giving event was moderated by Corriere della Sera journalist, Simona Ravizza, and saw the participation – in addition to Merler’s family and numerous authorities – also of Prof. Andrea Pugliese‘s, who recalled the ‘pioneering’ work carried out by the young scholar already dduring his studies at the University of Trento, in the application of mathematics to biology and to modeling.

“Pioneering work that was made possible also thanks to the setting up of a research group at FBK on the subject that has been operating for twenty years and that today, thanks to the recent reorganization, has become Research Center – as recalled by Francesco Profumo, President of FBK – This operation, perfectly in line with the philosophy of our founder, Bruno Kessler, who has clearly indicated how investing in innovation and knowledge, focusing on young people, leads to the excellence that today is under everyone’s eyes, not only locally, but also nationally”.

At the time of the awarding, the Mayor Franco Ianeselli read the reasons for the recognition.

Finally Stefano Merler, after thanking the working group of the Health Emergency Center for their generosity and commitment in this hard one and a half years of work on Covid-19, recalled how the only weapon available to fight the virus and to be able to gradually return to normal remains the vaccine.

You can watch the full ceremony on the video channels  of Fondazione Bruno Kessler’s and the Municipality of Trento’s Facebook pages.