He was among the earliest investigators that focused on the relevance of endothelial dysfunction[1] and inflammation[2] for the high risk of cardiovascular disease in these populations.

In this research area, he was the first to link endogenous inhibitors of the nitric oxide system with death and cardiovascular disease.

Dr Zoccali was trained in clinical research in hypertension at the Medical Research Council (MRC) BP Unit in Glasgow (1981-1982) and in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam where he attended several Erasmus Summer School courses in 1989–1993.

He was a Clinical Research Fellow at the Glasgow BP Unit (1981-1982) where he worked with Dr Jehoiada Brown, Antony Lever, Jan Robertson, Stephen Ball and Peter Simple on several projects on hypertension.

Back in Italy, he worked in the main hospital of Reggio Calabria as Renal Unit vice-director with his mentor Professor Quirino Maggiore.

He is above the 97,5th percentile among investigators evaluated by ResearchGate[10] In an analysis by Ioannidis et al. across twenty-seven scientific fields, from physics and astronomy to clinical medicine, between January 1, 1996, until December 31, 2017[11] he was among the 4000 most productive scientists during this period.