Dr. Mario Rigante graduated in Medicine and Surgery with honors from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore–Policlinico A. Gemelli in Rome, Italy, before obtaining Italian medical authorization and registration. He completed specialist training in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery with honors at the same institution and later earned a PhD in the pathophysiology of the nasopharyngotubal district. His training included ENT experience at Denver Health Medical Center and the University of Colorado, temporal-bone dissection training, and repeated anatomical training in endoscopic skull-base surgery at the University of Vienna, Austria.

He progressed through the Otolaryngology Clinic at Policlinico A. Gemelli in Rome from internal student and specialist to PhD doctor, temporary staff physician and permanent medical staff physician. He subsequently served as Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology at the University of Perugia and Medical Director at Santa Maria della Misericordia University Hospital in Perugia, Italy. He returned to Gemelli as permanent senior staff and currently delivers medical and surgical care at Policlinico A. Gemelli and Gemelli Isola Tiberina Hospital in Rome, Italy.

His surgical practice covers low-, medium- and high-complexity ENT procedures, with approximately 3,500 operations as first operator and more than 4,000 as assistant. His operative log includes more than 1,000 FESS procedures as first operator and over 500 endoscopic procedures for sellar and skull-base pathology as first operator, alongside endoscopic CSF-leak repair, DCR, orbital decompression, parotid, laryngeal and head-and-neck oncology procedures. He has authored more than 90 journal papers and contributed to multicenter research in rhinology, pituitary, skull-base and head-and-neck oncology.

He contributes to multidisciplinary decision-making at Policlinico Gemelli through the Head and Neck Oncology Tumor Board and the Pituitary Board with neurosurgery, endocrinology and neuroradiology teams. His professional impact includes board service within the Italian University ENT Association, service to the Italian Society of Otorhinolaryngology, and membership in Italian and European rhinology and skull-base societies. He also participates in international research groups and editorial boards, including the Romanian Journal of Rhinology and other ENT and surgical journals.