Mauro Bernardi graduated in Medicine at the University of Bologna in 1972. He completed his residency in Gastroenterology and then Internal Medicine at the Universities of Bologna and Chieti from 1972 to 1978.

He was appointed as Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine at Chieti (1974-1978) and Bologna Universities (1978-1983). He spent 1975 in the Liver Research Unit of King's College Hospital, London (Prof. R. Williams), as a locum research fellow, where he started his research activity on renal function abnormalities in cirrhosis under the guidance of Dr. S.P. Wilkinson.

He was appointed as Associate Professor in Internal Medicine in 1983 at Bologna University. He was visiting professor at Technion, Haifa, in 1984. In 1995, he became full Professor of Internal Medicine at Bologna University.

Since 1997, he has been heading a Unit of Internal Medicine at Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpighi, University of Bologna. From 2000 to 2006, he was director of the Department of Internal Medicine, Cardioangiology and Hepatology, at Bologna University. His teaching activity is devoted to the students of the medical school and post-graduate courses in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases.

He was member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver from 1978 to 1982, and member of the governing Board of EASL from 1990 to 1993. He started his duty as EASL Treasurer in April 2009. He is and has been a member of the Editorial Boards of Digestive and Liver Disease (2001-04; 2008 - current), and Journal of Hepatology (1995-1999).

His main research fields are represented by cirrhosis and related complications (renal function abnormalities, ascites, and cardiovascular abnormalities), hepatocellular carcinoma, chronic viral hepatitis, and liver transplantation, but also include clinical aspects and treatment of alcoholism, and pathophysiology and prevention of experimental ischemia-reperfusion damage of the liver.