Clinical expertise

Dr Alessandra Cocca specialises in bone-related conditions as well as several types of endocrine diseases. She works as a paediatric consultant in Evelina London Children’s Hospital with young patients.

She regularly treats patients with conditions such as:

  • achondroplasia
  • skeletal dysplasia
  • rickets
  • hyper/hypocalcaemia
  • phosphate related conditions (XLH)
  • osteoporosis
  • short stature
  • precocious/delayed puberty
  • Klinefelter syndrome
  • adrenal insufficiency

She performs treatments such as:

  • test and treatments related to different types of endocrine/bone conditions
  • growth hormone stimulation tests
  • luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) test
  • short synacthen test
  • oral glucose tolerance test
  • water deprivation test
  • fast provocation test
  • interpretation of bone-related results
  • achondroplasia and skeletal dysplasia-related imaging (X-rays, MRI)
  • bone density (DEXA) scanning
  • bisphosphonates for osteoporosis
  • gonadotropin hormone-releasing hormone (GnRh) analogues


Biography

Dr Alessandra Cocca is a consultant in paediatric endocrine and bone and mineral disorders.

She obtained her Bachelor in Medicine in Italy in 2010 at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, where she went on to complete her paediatric training in 2017. During these years she spent one month in Boston at the New England Diabetes and Endocrinology Centre and 6 months at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital during which she worked on a diabetes project on HbA1c levels in different ethnicities.

She then started to work as a research fellow at Evelina London Children’s Hospital in 2018 and was involved in clinical trials for children with achondroplasia and during a two year period she developed an interest in different types of bone conditions. In 2019 she received the new investigator award the International Conference for Children Bone Health and in 2020 she started to work as consultant at the same hospital.

She is also part of the multidisciplinary clinic for young people with Klinefelter syndrome.


Research

Dr Cocca runs a multidisciplinary clinic for children with achondroplasia and skeletal dysplasia; she sees children with different types of osteoporosis, interprets their DEXA scans and offers treatment when appropriate.

In her endocrine clinics, she sees several types of endocrine conditions, such as:

  • adrenal insufficiency
  • short stature
  • delayed or precocious puberty
  • thyroid disorders

Since May 2023, she has been the lead of the bone service.

Publications

Dr Cocca has been published in many peer-reviewed journals on the subject of:

  • diabetes
  • Klinefelter syndrome
  • congenital hypothyroidism
  • achondroplasia
  • skeletal dysplasia

She was also a sub-investigator for clinical trials for children with ahondroplasia and principal investigators for X-linked hypophosphataemia and hypophosphatasia studies.