Healthcare, Ethics, and Innovation: Italy–U.S. Dialogue at the Italian Consulate General in New York for a More Human-Centered Healthcare System
New York, April 13, 2026 – The international conference “Ethics, Innovation and Care: The Italy–U.S. Dialogue for a More Human-Centered Healthcare System” was held at the Italian Consulate General in New York, bringing together institutions, healthcare leaders, academia, and industry representatives from both countries.
The initiative, organized as part of an institutional mission to the United States, provided a concrete opportunity to strengthen transatlantic dialogue on one of the most pressing challenges of our time: building sustainable, inclusive, and person-centered healthcare models, with particular focus on the aging population.
The proceedings were opened by the institutional remarks of Consul General Giuseppe Pastorelli, followed by a remote message from the Italian Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, who emphasized the importance of promoting healthcare systems capable of combining innovation, sustainability, and the humanization of care.
The conference was coordinated by Eng. Alessandro Astorino, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Intergroups, who highlighted the strategic value of the mission in strengthening institutional and industrial relations between Italy and the United States, fostering concrete synergies across healthcare, innovation, and infrastructure.
Statements
Erica Mazzetti, President of the Parliamentary Intergroup “Progetto Italia (Public Works, Construction and Urban Planning)”, stated:
“Designing healthcare spaces means creating more human environments. The quality of healthcare construction and Italian design are essential to improving people’s lives, as well-designed, functional, and sustainable environments directly contribute to the well-being of patients and healthcare professionals.”
Massimo Mangini, President of Mangini Group, added:
“Italian excellence in healthcare construction and infrastructure is today a strategic asset at the international level. Bringing our know-how to the United States means contributing concretely to the development of innovative, safe, and patient-centered hospital models.”
Tino Ruta, Founder of Knights Care, stated:
“Population aging is one of the defining challenges of our time, requiring us to rethink care models through a more human, sustainable, and integrated perspective. The United States and Italy express complementary strengths: innovation and technology on one side, proximity and a humanistic vision of care on the other. The real challenge today is to build networks capable of combining these strengths, overcoming fragmentation and inefficiencies.
Knights Care was created precisely with this goal: to connect healthcare, institutions, and international leadership, transforming struggling models into more efficient and sustainable systems, always placing the dignity of the person—especially the most vulnerable—at the center. Experiences such as the ‘Sette Pani’ consortium demonstrate that it is possible to build networks, achieve economies of scale, and at the same time preserve identity and mission. What we need are not isolated centers of excellence, but systems built together.”
A Model for Structured Cooperation
The conference highlighted the need to develop a new paradigm of international cooperation, based on integration between public and private sectors, the sharing of expertise, and the creation of operational networks capable of turning strategic vision into concrete results.
In this context, Knights Care aims to position itself as an international platform connecting healthcare, institutions, and industry, with the goal of developing scalable models on a global level, starting from a structured dialogue between Italy and the United States.
