Marco Andrea Riva received his degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology in 1984, and his Specialization in Pharmacology in 1987 from the University of Milan. He has been a Postdoctoral fellow at CMBN Rutgers University, New Jersey (1987-1989) and at Georgetown University (1989-1991). After being Research Assistant at DiBiT, San Raffaele Hospital, from 1994 to 1997, he became Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Milan in 1998, Associate Professor in 2001 and Full Professor in 2015. He has been Deputy Director of the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences and he is currently President and coordinator of the Degree course in Pharmacy at the University of Milan. He is also the coordinator of the Neuropsychopharmacology branch of the Italian Society of Pharmacology.

He is author of 247 Peer-Reviewed Publications as well as of several chapters of books or Congress proceedings. He has a H-index (Web of Science) of 63 and a total number of Citations of more than 11,800. He is member of different scientific societies, and he is (or has been) recipient of grants from Italian and foreign Agencies and foundations including PRIN- Italian Ministry University, PON-Italian Ministry University, CARIPLO foundation, Regione Lombardia, European Union (ERANET- Neuron and Horizon), NARSAD young investigator, as well as from pharma industries. He has been invited speaker at numerous Universities or Foreign laboratories and he has been award lecturer at Shandong University, Jinan (China) and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (Brazil).
He has been the organizer of the 49th Annual Conference of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (Milan, 2019) as well as of symposia at national and International Congresses, with over 140 Invitations at International and National congresses.

He has also been an advisory board member for Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Angelini and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and speakers at CME courses.

Prof. Riva works in the field of neuropsychopharmacology and molecular psychiatry. Major interests are: Molecular and behavioral analysis of developmental and genetic animal models for psychiatric disorders; Analysis of the functional and molecular consequences of stress exposure and their relevance for psychopathology; Characterization of epigenetic mechanisms for long-term dysfunction in psychiatric disorders; Analysis of molecular mechanisms underlying the action of psychotropic drugs.