Filippo Ciantia ha vissuto in Uganda con la moglie e i suoi otto figli dal 1980 al 2009 lavorando come medico per conto di Ong come Cuamm e Avsi e realizzando progetti in collaborazione con il governo italiano, le Nazioni Unite, l’Unione Europea e agenzie di cooperazione internazionale.
Dal 2009 al 2016 è stato direttore del progetto Cluster tematici di Expo Milano 2015.
Da maggio 2016 a marzo 2017 ha diretto l’ospedale Dr Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital a Kalongo, in Uganda.
Da giugno 2017 a gennaio 2021 è stato direttore generale della Fondazione Banco Farmaceutico.
Ha scritto La montagna del vento. Lettere dall’Uganda, Il divino nascosto. Storie di eroico quotidiano, Padre Tiboni «uno tra i più santi uomini che abbiamo» (edizione in lingua inglese Father Tiboni “one of the holiest men we have”) e Elio Croce fratello missionario comboniano.
Filippo Ciantia, now retired, works as a volunteer for the Banco Farmaceutico Foundation, as a project manager and member of the research team of the Observatory on Health Poverty (OPSan). He has also been volunteering as a vaccinator since April 2021, in the anti-Covid vaccination campaign at the ASST Sette Laghi (Varese).
After graduating in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Milan, then specialising in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine and Tropical Diseases, he married Luciana. Together they moved to Uganda in September 1980, where they worked as medical doctors until 2009.
In Uganda he worked for the NGOs CUAMM and AVSI and also for UNICEF, promoting and implementing cooperation projects in collaboration with the Italian government, the United Nations, the European Union and cooperation agencies such as USAID and DFID (now FCDO).
From 2009 to 2016 he was the Director of the Thematic Clusters project at Expo Milano 2015. From May, 2016 to March, 2017 he was the Chief Executive Officer of Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial hospital in Kalongo, northern Uganda. From 1st June, 2017 to 31st January, 2021, he was Director General of the Banco Farmaceutico Foundation.
He is the author of books dedicated to his experiences in Uganda, published by Itaca: La montagna del vento. Lettere dall’Uganda (The Wind Mountain. Letters of friendship from Uganda), Father Tiboni "one of the holiest men we have", Elio Croce fratello missionario comboniano (Elio Croce Comboni Missionary Brother). The book Il divino nascosto. Storie di eroico quotidiano (The Hidden Divine. Stories of heroic everyday life) is a collection of anecdotes published between 2017 and 2020, for the weekly (of the diocese of Ivrea) "Il Risveglio Popolare".