He was a Post-doctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Concordia University (Montreal, QC, 1999-2001). He obtained his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at McGill University (Montreal, QC, 1995-1999). Francesco's area of expertise is behavioural pharmacology and neuroscience. Using laboratory rats, his research explores neurobiological mechanisms involved in relapse to drug-seeking behavior, comorbid mood and substance dependence disorders, as well as perseverative reward seeking. These areas of research are funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (OPGRC), respectively.