Luca Porfiri is the Regional Laboratory Specialist at the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal
Diseases (ECTAD), Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO). He coordinates regional laboratory capacity-building programmes
across Asia and the Pacific, supporting countries in strengthening their animal health systems and
laboratory networks. In this role, he has facilitated the ASEAN Regional Animal Health Laboratory
Technical Advisory Group (Lab-TAG) meetings, represented FAO at the ASEAN Laboratory Directors’
Forum, and served as a technical lead for national laboratory systems and biosafety and biosecurity
in WHO Joint External Evaluations in Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Maldives, and the Philippines.

Luca has organized and led multi-stakeholder initiatives such as the Animal Health Laboratory
Strategic Roadmap Workshops in Southeast Asian countries and One Health events including
Breaking Silos: A Multi-Sectoral Approach to Biosecurity. His technical expertise spans biosafety and
biosecurity, laboratory governance, vaccines, quality assurance, and digital innovation, including
support for the deployment of the SILAB Laboratory Information Management System in Southeast
Asia.

Before joining FAO, Luca worked for over five years at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear
Techniques in Food and Agriculture in Austria, contributing to global research and capacity-building
in veterinary diagnostics, immunoassays, and gamma-irradiated vaccine development for
transboundary animal diseases such as African swine fever and avian influenza. He has authored
scientific papers, technical guidelines, training materials, and biosafety protocols.

He holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Edinburgh, a Master’s degree in Biological
Sciences (Nutrition and Functional Food) from the University of Camerino, and a Bachelor’s degree
in Biological Sciences from the University of Rome Tor Vergata.