Alessandro Riva born in Milan on August 25, 1939, came to Cagliari just after graduating from the Medical School of the University of Pavia in 1964. While at the University he was a scholar of the Collegio Ghislieri. Since 1975, he is Professor of Anatomy and History of Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Cagliari where he also serves as Dean of the School of Nursing and Curator of the collection of Susini's Anatomical Wax Models, that he has promoted in 1991. Member of the Board of several Scientific Societies and representative for Italy in the Federative International Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FICAT), he is Vice-President of the College of Italian Anatomists, President of the Association Clemente Susini for the promotion of History of Medicine, and Editor of the European Journal of Morphology. His main research interests are in salivary and other exocrine glands, and in History of Anatomy and Medicine.