University College London, Italy
Dr. Elisa Perego is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary researcher, scientist, and disability activist whose work spans archaeology, bioarchaeology, medicine, public health, and the social sciences, with a core focus on health, disability, inequality, and infectious disease in past and present societies. She coined the term “Long Covid” and her pioneering, patient-led research was instrumental in the global recognition of the long-term sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, shaping clinical guidelines, public health policy, and scientific debate worldwide. Her work is widely cited in leading journals such as Nature and The Lancet, routinely informs policymaking including WHO, NASEM, and the Biden–Harris Presidential Memorandum on Long COVID and is frequently referenced in major international media. Alongside her COVID-19 scholarship, she is a leading figure in Mediterranean and Italian archaeology, bioarchaeology, and the study of marginality, personhood, disability, and crisis–collapse, integrating Big Data, aDNA, isotope analysis, and social theory. She has held prestigious fellowships including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Ralegh Radford Rome Fellowship at the British School at Rome, and her research has been used as teaching material across medicine, archaeology, and the medical humanities. She has organized major international scientific meetings, led and co-led influential interdisciplinary research networks, reviewed extensively for top journals and funding bodies, and delivered over 80 invited and peer-reviewed talks globally. Her work has received numerous accolades for both scientific innovation and societal impact, particularly in advancing patient activism, ethics, and equity in research. She has extensive experience in research leadership, policy engagement, science communication, and mentorship across disciplines and countries. As a chronically ill researcher, her career includes periods of reduced productivity due to health-related career breaks, which contextualize her achievements and reflect her lived expertise in disability, accessibility, and inclusive research practice.