I was born in Milan in 1969 and my full maiden name is Claudia Angela Michela Gandini and I grew up in Milan, or should I say in what was the outskirt of Milan when Berlusconi started to transform it into “Milano 2″ and a farm became a posh sporting club, a camomile field was replaced by a glass building with antennas all over it and houses, schools and facilities started to take over a fairly rural setting.

When I was 10, my parents moved from Milano 2 to a tiny village (800 inhabitants!) near the “Cinque Terre”, called Bonassola. My Mum was the farmacist there so we had a “position” in teh village. Also, my Dad started the choir in the parish and was involved with the Lions Club. Opportunities to travel, meet people and discover the World were jumped on so that we children could grow up with wide orizons.

At Uni, I studied Physics with the idea of getting into medical imaging, and in particular MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). I wasn’t sure how to do so as there wasn’t a medical physics degree at the time so I was advised to take on Solid State Physics at Pavia’s University.

I went through four years of studying, wondering how on Earth I was going to realise my dream, when my electronic teacher, Prof. Marco Villa, was determined to make his way into the MRI world and was looking for a couple of students willing to help him in this adventure. So I jumped at the opportunity and started to work with him.

I graduated in 1994 (on Friday the 17th of June) and got on a plane to the UK on the 24th of the same month to embark a new adventure, i.e. 3 months working experience in a small company who was producing MRI equipment (SMIS - Surrey Medical Imaging Systems).

Things evolved pretty rapidly: I met my husband, I got a job with SMIS, I started my PhD at the University of Surrey, I got married and now I have three lovely children - all boys!!!