Rosaria Ottanà received a degree in Industrial Chemistry (1980) and specialized in "Chemistry and Technology of Catalysis" (1982) at Messina University. She has been an Associate Professor in Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical, and Environmental Sciences of the University of Messina since 2001. Currently, her research targets the design, synthesis, SAR studies, and molecular modeling of 2-oxo/2-arylimino-4-thiazolidinones and 2-thioxo-4-imidazolidinones as inhibitors of a) aldose reductase for the treatment of diabetic complications and b) phosphotyrosine protein phosphatases as agents to fight diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Her research interests included the design and synthesis of both anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents and lipophilic analogues of isoniazid with activity against AIDS-associated infections and tumoral pathologies.