Biography

I was born in Athens in 1970. I graduated from the Experimental Lyceum of the Varvakeios School in 1988 and enrolled, after the entrance exams, to the Medical School of the University of Athens. After six years of study, I completed my studies and received my medical degree in July 1994. Immediately after receiving my degree, I attended the activities of the Neurosurgery Clinic of Bristol, Great Britain, and the Neurosurgery Clinic of Houston, USA, for a month.

On my return, I began fulfilling the obligation of rural service at the Regional Clinic of Vresthena in the Prefecture of Laconia, from where, after an initial three-month period, I received a secondment to the Surgical Clinic of the General Hospital of Sparta, where I completed my service. This was followed by my enlistment in the Air Force. After basic training and my seven-month tenure as a Unit Physician at the 115 Combat Wing in Chania, I served the remaining nine months of my term at the Surgical Clinic of “251 G.N.A.”, with a placement at the First Orthopedic Clinic. I continued my specialty in General Surgery at the Vascular Surgery Clinic of the “Elpis” Hospital where I stayed for 3 months to complete the required time of General Surgery.

In July 1998, I was appointed as a resident in Orthopedics at the Orthopaedic Clinic of the Hospital “N.I.M.T.S.” under the direction of Em. Michelinakis. During my specialty, I was trained in the entire spectrum of Orthopedics, but I also had the excellent opportunity to focus on and delve into reconstructive hip and knee surgery, following the well-known long-standing scientific tradition of this clinic. During the period of my specialty, I received a six-month educational leave from the K.E.S.Y. (Central Scientific Council of Health) and visited the Sports Injuries Clinic of the Technical University of Munich, under the direction of Prof. A.B. Imhoff, and the Institute of the Hand in Paris, under A. Gilbert. There I had the opportunity to be trained by world-class surgeons in Arthroscopic Knee and Shoulder Surgery and Hand Surgery respectively. In the last year of my specialty, I started my studies for the Master’s degree in Orthopaedic Engineering (MSc, Orthopaedic Engineering), a two-year program of Cardiff University, Great Britain. I completed my specialization in July 2003 and in August (of the same year) I successfully passed the specialty exams.

In September 2003, with a scholarship from the European Orthopaedic Society (EFORT) I attended the EFORT Travelling Fellowship in France. In October 2003 I began my further education in Cambridge, Great Britain (Lea and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals). During my stay there I worked with the world-renowned orthopedist Richard Villar, a pioneer of modern hip surgery and especially hip arthroscopic surgery. I thus had the unique opportunity to be trained in this technique as well as in other newer techniques of hip surgery, such as hip resurfacing, minimal intervention arthroplasty (MIS) and the concept of “fast track joint replacement” which I advocate and follow in my orthopedic practice today. During my work at Cambridge, in addition to my practical experience, I was intensively involved in clinical research which resulted in the publication of articles (with a total of 43 citations) in high-level international journals, perhaps the most important being the writing of an Editorial in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, which is considered to be the most reputable orthopedic journal.

After my further training, I practice freelance and parallel scientific activities. I am completing my studies at the Master’s degree in Orthopaedic Engineering at Cardiff University, preparing a diploma thesis on the topic: “The effect of vancomycin on the compressive strength of bone cement”, and receiving the corresponding title. At the same time, and specifically in November 2005, with a scholarship from E.E.X.O.T., I completed a clinical postgraduate training in Sports Injuries, at the Department of Sports Injuries of the Technical University of Munich, while in December 2008 I completed a clinical specialization in computer-assisted navigation in Total Knee Arthroplasty at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Center, of the University of Bologna in Italy.

Particularly honorable is the selection since 2006 as a reviewer of articles for the British edition of the leading journal, Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, a fate that few Greek Orthopedists have. In addition, from 2008 to 2013, when I voluntarily retired due to workload, I participated in the scientific team for translating the abstracts of the articles of the same journal into Greek, which are published in its online edition. In December 2008, I was selected as an Expert Orthopaedic Surgeon of Heraeus Medical, a bone cement manufacturer, with the exclusive activity of its educational department “Palacademy”, which is addressed to the international orthopedic community.

Since 2008 I have been working at the Mutual Aid Fund of the Bank of Greece (A.T.P.S.Y.T.E.) and at the Private Clinic “Euroclinic” as a Registrar under the direction of Em. Michelinakis, until his untimely death in September 2010. Since then, always in parallel with my work for the A.T.P.S.Y.T.E., I continue my independent collaboration, both with the “Euroclinic of Athens” and with the “White Cross of Athens” where I operate on the widest range of Orthopedics and Traumatology with an emphasis on Hip and Knee Surgery, incorporating all new techniques into daily medical practice.