Francesca Casadio joined the Art Institute of Chicago in July 2003 as the Museum's first A. W. Mellon Senior Conservation Scientist and founding member of the scientific research laboratory. In January 2018 she was named the Grainger Executive Director of Conservation and Science: in this capacity she leads a team of over thirty specialists for objects, paintings, frames, works on paper, photographs, books, other printed materials, textiles, time-based media, and scientific research. Francesca received her PhD and MS degrees in Chemistry from the University of Milan, Italy. She is also the founder and co-Director of the Northwestern University / Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS). Casadio has authored and edited several publications in the scientific and conservation literature, including edited books and essays in museum catalogs. She’s passionate about communicating the work of conservators and scientists to the public, students, and the media. In 2006 she was the recipient of the L’Oréal Art and Science of Color Silver Prize. In September 2019 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne University in Paris.