A/Prof Claudia Di Bella is an academic orthopaedic surgeon in Melbourne, with main focus in joint arthroplasty and bone and soft tissue tumors.

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.

A/Prof Di Bella has moved to Australia in 2009, where she has completed her fellowship in musculoskeletal tumors 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 tumors (member of Australian Sarcoma Group).

A/Prof Di Bella's focus on academic surgery and research have driven her to obtain a PhD in oncology and experimental pathology in 2012, with top marks.

A/Prof Di Bella is a faculty member of the Academic Surgery section at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), and a member of the Women in Surgery section of the RACS.

A/Prof Di Bella is in the Board of Directors of the Australian Orthopaedic Society Research Foundation.

A/Prof Di Bella 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.

A/Prof Di Bella is member of:

• Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) - MEMBER and VICE CHAIR of the BOARD OF DIRECTORS of RESEARCH FOUNDATION
• Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) - CHAIR of the SECTION OF ACADEMIC SURGERY annual meeting
• Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association (ANZSA) - CHAIR of 2020 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
• International Society of Limb Salvage (ISOLS) - CHAIR of INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY COMMITTEE for the 2023 conference
• American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
• Asia-Pacific Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (AP-MSTS)
• International Society of Cartilage Regeneration (ICRS)
• Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS)
• Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS)
• Section of Academic Surgery (SAS - RACS)

A/Prof Di Bella is Editor Reviewer for Frontiers in Surgery and is a reviewer of multiple international journals, including Tissue Engineering, Biomaterials and ANZ Journal of Surgery.

A/Prof Di Bella to date has more than 40 publications in national and international peer reviewed journals, and has received numerous research awards, such as the prestigious NHMRC-MRFF Investigator Grant (2020-2025), the Senior Research Fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, the Early Career research award from the ANZ Orthopaedic Research Society, and the Orthoregeneration Network award from the International Cartilage Regeneration Society.

List of publications, updated February 2019.

Click here.

Ms Di Bella features in MIRACLE HOSPITAL (Series 2), a TV series for National Geographic focused on the most innovative technologies in medicine and surgery.

Ms Di Bella has also been interviewed by The Project (Channel 10), Channel 7 News, ABC news for her work in 3D printing and tissue engineering.

A/Prof Di Bellais the leader of the Cartilage Regeneration program of Research at the Department of Surgery of The University of Melbourne. Her innovative approach to cartilage injury includes the use of the most advanced 3D printing technologies and stem cells.

A/Prof Di Bella's research, which is still in a pre-clinical phase, is funded by the NHMRC-MRFF.

"In April 2020, orthopaedic surgeon Associate Professor Claudia Di Bella, and her team at BioFab3D, trademarked a revolutionary new method of stem cell transplantation. Located within St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, the 3D laboratory is Australia's first hospital-based bio-fabrication lab. In this episode Assoc. Prof. Di Bella explains how its cartilage project aims to build biological structures with the use of stem cells printed within a gelatinous scaffold, and then cultured in 3D."

Listen on Apple Podcast