Dr. Marco Cardinale is the Executive Director of Research and Scientific Support in Aspetar, the Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital. In 2009, Aspetar was accredited as a “FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence” by F-MARC and “IOC Research Centre for Prevention of Injury and Protection of Athlete Health” in 2014.

In 2015, Aspetar has been recognised as the “IHF Reference Centre for Athlete and Referee Health”.

Before joining Aspetar he was the Head of Sports Physiology and Research of Aspire Academy in Doha (Qatar). 

Before moving to Qatar, he led the Sports Science activities for the preparation of Team GB at the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.

A former Handball coach, he has been involved in coach education in various countries in the area of strength and conditioning and exercise physiology. A widely published and cited author in the scientific literature on various aspects of human performance, he has also patented an innovative exercise device (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/r&i/business/licencing/lo_medd/autoexerc/) consisting of a vibratory biofeedback system which received research awards from NEStech and the Design Council (http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/resources-and-events/Business-and-public-sector/Technology-case-studies/Exercise-machine-with-vibration/).

Dr. Cardinale holds two honorary academic appointments one at University College London in the division of surgical and interventional medicine and in the department of computer science and one at the University of Plymouth. He has been an advisor to various companies (e.g. Polar Electro, Medisport and Technogym), government agencies (e.g. the European Space Agency) and professional sport organizations and national governing bodies in 4 countries before moving to Qatar. Dr. Cardinale has been invited speaker in scientific conferences and coaching clinics in 21 countries and has been ad-hoc reviewer for over 15 scientific journals and various research councils. Dr. Cardinale was a member of the Research Excellence Framework panel in the unit of assessment 26 (Sports related studies). In 2011 he was awarded the honour of "Cavaliere dello sport pontino" by the Italian Olympic Committee for his services to international sports.

Dr Cardinale was an advisory board member of NIKE (SPARQ) and was a member of the scientific commission of the Italian Track and Field Federation from 2013 to 2016. In 2017 he obtained the national Habilitation to Full Professor by the Italian Ministry of Education in 06/N2 Science of Sport and Physical Activity.

Dr Cardinale holds a B.Sc. from ISEF in Italy, an M.Sc. from the US Sports Academy in the USA and a PhD from Semmelweis University in Hungary.