Dr Finocchiaro completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at University of Trieste (Italy). He then spent one year at Stanford University (CA, US), focusing his research on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and athlete’s heart, gaining a post-doctoral diploma. He subsequently specialised cardiovascular magnetic resonance at The Heart Hospital imaging center and at St George’s Hospital in London. Gherardo has level 3 accreditation in CMR (EACVI) and is accredited in echocardiography by the British Society of Echocardiography.

He completed a PhD at St George’s University of London focusing on sudden death in athletes, family screening in decedents of sudden death and physiological adaptation to exercise. Dr Finocchiaro won several awards and grants for his research and he was a finalist for the European Society of Cardiology Young Investigator Award in 2015. Dr Finocchiaro published several papers in highly ranked international journals.

Dr Finocchiaro has research interests in physiological cardiac adaptation to exercise, cardiomyopathies and causes of sudden death in the young.

Publications

Dr Finocchiaro's publications are focused on sudden death in young individuals, cardiomyopathies and “athlete’s heart." He published in major international journals such as NEJM, JACC, and European Heart Journal. He has presented in several sessions at the European Society of Cardiology congress.

You can view all of Dr Finocchiaro's publications on PubMed Publications

Top 10 publications:

1. Finocchiaro G, Papadakis M, Robertus JL, Dhutia H, Steriotis AK, Tome M, Mellor G, Merghani A, Malhotra A, Behr E, Sharma S, Sheppard MN. Etiology of Sudden Death in Sports: Insights From a United Kingdom Regional Registry. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2016 67(18):2108-15.
2. Finocchiaro G, Dhutia H, D'Silva A, Malhotra A, Steriotis A, Millar L, Prakash K, Narain R, Papadakis M, Sharma R, Sharma S. Effect of Gender and Sporting Discipline on Left Ventricular Adaptation to Exercise. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2016; 10(9):965-972.
3. Malhotra A, Dhutia H, Finocchiaro G, Gati S, Beasley I, Clift P, Cowie C, Kenny A, Mayet J, Oxborough D, Patel K, Pieles G, Rakhit D, Ramsdale D, Shapiro L, Somauroo J, Stuart G, Varnava A, Walsh J, Yousef Z, Tome M, Papadakis M, Sharma S. Outcomes of Cardiac Screening in Adolescent Soccer Players. N Engl J Med. 2018;379(6):524-534.
4. Finocchiaro G, Papadakis M, Dhutia H, Zaidi A, Malhotra A, Fabi E, Cappelletto C, Brook J, Papatheodorou E, Ensam B, Miles CJ, Bastiaenen R, Attard V, Homfray T, Sharma R, Tome M, Carr-White G, Merlo M, Behr ER, Sinagra G, Sharma S. Electrocardiographic differentiation between 'benign T-wave inversion' and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Europace. 2018;doi: 10.1093/europace/euy179.
5. Finocchiaro G, Papadakis M, Tanzarella G, Dhutia H, Miles C, Tome M, Behr ER, Sharma S, Sheppard MN. Sudden Death Can Be the First Manifestation of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Data From a United Kingdom Pathology Registry. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2019;5(2):252-254.
6. Finocchiaro G, Behr ER, Tanzarella G, Papadakis M, Malhotra A, Dhutia H, Miles C, Diemberger I, Sharma S, Sheppard MN. Anomalous Coronary Artery Origin and Sudden Cardiac Death: Clinical and Pathological Insights From a National Pathology Registry. JACC Clin Electrophysiol. 2019;5(4):516-522.
7. Finocchiaro G, Dhutia H, Gray B, Ensam B, Papatheodorou S, Miles C, Malhotra A, Fanton Z, Bulleros P, Homfray T, Witney AA, Bunce N, Anderson LJ, Ware JS, Sharma R, Tome M, Behr ER, Sheppard MN, Papadakis M, Sharma S. Diagnostic yield of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in first-degree relatives of decedents with idiopathic left ventricular hypertrophy. Europace. 2020;22(4):632-642
8. Finocchiaro G, Westaby J, Bhatia R, Malhotra A, Behr ER, Papadakis M, Sharma S, Sheppard MN. Sudden Death in Female Athletes: Insights From a Large Regional Registry in the United Kingdom. Circulation 2021 30;144(22):1827-1829.
9. Finocchiaro G, Westaby J, Behr ER, Papadakis M, Sharma S, Sheppard MN. Association of Sexual Intercourse With Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Individuals in the United Kingdom. JAMA Cardiology 2022 1;7(3):358-359.
10. Finocchiaro G, Radaelli D, D'Errico S, Papadakis M, Behr ER, Sharma S, Westaby J, Sheppard MN. Sudden Cardiac Death Among Adolescents in the United Kingdom. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2023 Mar 21;81(11):1007-1017.

Dr Finocchiaro has received research grants from several organizations, including:

- Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust

- Cardiac Risk in the Young