Marco spent most of his time off from school in France with his grandparents and brother Pascal, who had a steady influence on Marco’s pursuit of the sciences, especially space science. He applied to enter medical school at Leicester University, home to the UK National Space Center, with the option to changing course to pursue space sciences. However, he found his calling in medicine as well as his underdog team in Leicester City. One of Marco’s biggest regrets was not to have placed a bet on Leicester City winning the premier league in 2015 when the odds were 5000-1!

Marco was greatly influenced by his Genetics tutor, Prof Sir Alec Jeffreys, whose work on DNA fingerprinting led him to complete a BSc degree in Genetics with honors. As an intern, Marco met his future wife, Vanessa, who was a gifted artist and an occupational therapist. It was love at first sight and a classic hospital romance that was still allowed. Ever since, Vanessa has been a pillar of unwavering support throughout Marco’s training and career, and witness to all the most joyous parts of his life.

Marco completed his general surgery residency at Oxford and was board certified by both the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Ireland, a prerequisite to entering specialist training. He was awarded the UK Medical Research Council Clinical Science Fellowship and the British Brain and Spine Foundation Fellowship awards to pursue his PhD (DPhil) research into viral neural gene therapy. He completed his research under Dr. Harry Charlton in the dept. of human anatomy and genetics, Oxford. During this period, he also became lecturer in anatomy and neuroscience at Trinity and Christ Church colleges and was awarded the Dooley prize for best teacher. He went on to become a certified expedition and high-altitude physician, participating in several expeditions as camp doctor, most notably in the arctic and the Himalayas, and taught expedition medicine to the Royal Marines.

He started his neurosurgery training at Oxford under Mr. Chris Adams, Mr. Peter Teddy, and Mr. Richard Kerr before moving to Edinburgh to complete his training and board certification in neurosurgery in 2006. He was particularly influenced by Mr. Ioannis Fouyas and Mr. Patrick Statham, premier skull base and cerebrovascular surgeons in Edinburgh. While in Edinburgh, he started a long-lasting collaboration that culminated in the first Glioma Stem Cell biology laboratory in Scotland. He undertook further sub-specialization training in skull base/ cerebrovascular surgery with a fellowship under Dr. Gary Steinberg at Stanford.

Marco and Vanessa moved to California in 2007, pursuing their separate careers. By this time, Vanessa was a teacher and researcher in occupational therapy, and she became assistant professor of OT at Samuel Merritt University while Marco immersed himself in Dr. Steinberg’s fellowship. The Stanford Chairman had a profound influence on Marco, exposing him to complex vascular disorders and mastery in the operating room. The rich pathology also provided abundant clinical research opportunities and allowed him to publish original work on cerebrovascular pathophysiology in various cerebrovascular conditions, especially Moyamoya disease.

Plans to return to the UK National Health Service was abruptly stopped as Marco was offered a unique opportunity to develop neurosurgery services in Silicon Valley’s own “national” health service. He took up his position at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, the local county hospital, in 2009. He helped set up the highly popular residency program, the county stroke center, the pituitary center, and led as Chief of neurosurgery until 2018 when he became clinical professor at Stanford. He also helped create an active research environment, including setting up the world’s first embryonic stem cell trial in spinal cord injury with Dr. Steinberg at SCVMC. Teaching remains a passion for Marco, who regularly teaches cadaveric workshops at Stanford, the UK and Greece.

During this period in California, Marco and Vanessa saw the birth of their sons, Laurence (14) and Oliver (12). Vanessa had changed her career from OT to being a production make-up artist. It is a testament to Vanessa’s love that despite working regularly on top athletes and Hollywood leading men, Vanessa still comes home to Marco. His whole family has been regular WNS attendees over the years. Marco became a WNS member in 2011 under the instigation and support of Dr. Austin Colohan. He felt an immediate affinity with the WNS thanks to the warm reception and friendliness demonstrated by so many colleagues and their spouses. He has participated in various WNS committee roles, in particular as chair of the membership committee (2014-2018) and secretary-treasurer (2019-2022). He currently also acts as a director for Northern California in the California Association of Neurological Surgeons.