He is the Director of the Department of Endocrinology & Diabetes, and of the Post-Graduate School of Endocrinology and Metabolism at University Campus Bio-Medico in Rome. He is also Coordinator of the Ph.D. program in Integrated Biomedical Sciences and Bioethics. He was President of the Italian Society of  Diabetes for Lazio and Rome region (currently its coordinator), founder and Chairman in the late 80’s of the IMDIAB group (immunotherapy of T1D) with the participation of several diabetes hospital centers in Rome, leading to the implementation of 13 clinical trials. Prof Pozzilli has worked at the Centre of Diabetes, St.Bartholomew’s and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, initially under the guidance of  the late Professor Andrew Cudworth and then at the Centre of Diabetes, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary on a project on Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) being Deputy leader of the EU funded programme ACTION LADA.

Prof Pozzilli specialized in Endocrinology & Metabolic Diseases (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy), under the guidance of Professor Domenico Andreani. Since then he worked mainly in the field of diabetes with particular focus on type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis and prevention in collaboration with several investigators worldwide. Internationally he coordinated with other investigators the EURODIAB study on the incidence of childhood T1D, which is the most comprehensive road map of the incidence of T1D in Europe. He has been the regional principal investigator for TRIGR, the longest trial for the primary prevention of T1D. His collaborations with investigators in Europe, the US, and more recently in China, have allowed him to implement joint research programs for the identification of T1D pathogenic mechanisms leading to beta cell destruction. He continues to serve as a consultant on diabetes in Europe and worldwide. He has been a member of the scientific review committee of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (USA). He has also served for the EU in the grant selection for the 5th Framework Programme. He is currently the Editor in Chief of Diabetes Metabolism Research & Reviews.

Professor Pozzilli has received several awards, among them, the Andrew Cudworth Memorial Award by the British Diabetic Association in 1984, the Morgagni Award for Best Young Investigator by the International Society of Metabolism in 1989, the Award <45 years of age by the Italian Society of Diabetes in1994, the Marie Kugel Award by the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation  in2007, the Diabetes Honoris Causa by the Paulescu Foundation, Romanian Diabetes Society in2013, the Celso Prize by the Italian Society of Diabetes in 2014 and the Menarini Award, Joseph Hoet Memorial Lecture by the World Foundation on Diabetes Prevention in 2016.

He has published over 490 papers, books, and reviews on different aspects of diabetes, from basic studies on the autoimmune mechanisms of T1D to clinical trials testing novel therapies for T2D.