Since 1973 Stella Maris Foundation is the only Scientific Institute for Research Hospitalization and Health Care (IRCCS in Italy exclusively dedicated to research and assistance in Child Neurology and Psychiatry, a discipline of important scientific impact in clinical neurosciences of a great social relevance. It is an advanced research hospital that combines the highest levels of care with a very high quality of scientific research in developmental neuroscience. Rare diseases, intellectual disabilities, autism, neurological disorders, movement disorders, ADHD are some of the pathologies studied and treated at Stella Maris. The Hospital Centre, situated in Calambrone (Pisa), organized in a multi-professional way, is an internationally recognized hub that involves the activity of university professors and researchers.

The Foundation also acts as a teaching centre for the University of Pisa and hosts the School of Specialization in Child Neurology Psychiatry and the Degree Course for Developmental Therapists.

It hosts and is one of the founders of IMAGO7 Foundation, a research centre developed around an Ultra High Field Magnet Resonance System (MR 7Tesla, the only one in Italy) aimed at the development of interdisciplinary research in neuroscience and clinical imaging.