Valerio Balassone is an Italian digestive surgeon with particular experience in therapeutic endoscopy. He graduated and specialized in Rome. He has a PhD in Engineering applied to Surgery and obtained the Italian national qualification for associate professor. He completed an advanced clinical fellowship in Japan under the guidance of Prof. H. Inoue for 3rd space endoscopy (2016). He learned hepatobiliary ERCP and EUS with Prof. Di Matteo in Rome and completed the WISE program with Prof. Dong Wan Seo in Seul (2018). After coming back to Italy, he addressed his expertise to the pediatric surgery and endoscopy field, establishing several innovative minimally invasive alternatives for gastroenterological disorders in children at the Bambino Gesù Hospital of Rome (eg. POEM, direct cholangioscopy, EUS). To ensure an effective adjustment process, he never renounced to adult's endoscopy exposure. In order to promote a more accessible and sustainable training, he developed and patented a 3d-printed EUS simulator for therapeutic EUS.