Elia is a founding Managing Director at Angelini Ventures, bringing over 20 years of executive experience in healthcare and life sciences across industry, academic, and clinical settings. He previously served on the leadership team of Health Catalyst through their NASDAQ IPO in 2019, following roles as Senior Director of Data Science at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Venture Partner at First Star Ventures. Before his work in the United States, he was a Director at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma in Germany.

Prior to his industry career, Elia was a leading academic scientist in the genomics field internationally. He began his career as a member of the first team that annotated the human genome in Cambridge, U.K. (1999-2001). He then collaborated with Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner to build Asia's first genome project (Fugu genome). Subsequently, Elia worked at several key European research organizations, including as co-director of the genomics research center at San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy, where he contributed to the successful development and completion of Europe's first commercially viable gene therapy clinical trials

Currently, Elia serves as a board member for two Angelini Ventures portfolio companies: Comind Technologies in the UK, focused on non-invasive brain measurements, and Serenis in Italy, providing telehealth psychotherapy services. He also serves as an independent board member of Genialis, a U.S.-based RNA Cancer Biomarker company. Throughout his career, he has provided strategic guidance for biotech companies such as Alkahest (acquired by Grifols), Healx and Etcembly, deep tech companies such as Duality Technologies and Entropica Labs, healthtech companies such as Cardea Bio and Pulse Infoframe, as well as non-profit organizations such as RebootRX and the Esperare Foundation.

Elia holds a PhD in Computer Science from Leiden University and both a Master of Research and Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of York. He is an alumnus of the Leading Innovative Enterprises program at MIT Sloan School of Management and the United World College of the Adriatic, where he later served as a board member and Chairman of the Italian National Committee.