Federico Simonetta obtained his medical degree from the University of Genoa in 2006. He then completed a Master's degree in basic immunology at the Pasteur Institute and Paris VII University, followed by a PhD in immunology at Paris-Sud University. After clinical trainings in internal medicine and haematology at the HUG, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the field of transplantation and cellular immunotherapy.

On his return to Geneva, he joined the Division of Haematology at the HUG, where he is now Staff pHysician, Deputy Head of Department and Director of the Haematopoietic Stem Cell Allotransplantation and Cell Therapy Programme. At the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, he leads a research group at the Translational Research Centre in Onco-Haematology and at the Department of Medicine, dedicated to innovative cell therapies and immune reconstitution after transplantation, and coordinates several projects supported by competitive funding.

He is vice-president of the Cell Therapy Group of the Swiss Cancer Institute and co-chair of the EBMT CTIWP Transplantation Immunology Subcommittee. A privat-docent at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine since 2023, he was appointed associate professor in the Department of Medicine in December 2025.