Dr Lydia Ioannidi, MBBS, FRCS (Plast), HESPRAS, is a Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon with specialist interests in breast reconstruction, microsurgery, and burns. She completed her medical degree at the University of Ioannina, Greece, and obtained specialist certification in Plastic Surgery in the UK.

She has undertaken advanced microvascular fellowship training at Queen Victoria Hospital and Royal Marsden Hospital, focusing on complex breast reconstruction and microsurgical techniques. Her clinical interests include autologous breast reconstruction, microvascular surgery, and complex reconstructive procedures following cancer and burns.

Miss Vasiliki Magra MBBS MRCS MSc (Hons) is an Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon. After graduating from the prestigious University College London (UCL) Medical School in 2015, Miss Magra completed Foundation and Core Surgical Training in London, earning membership to the Royal College of Surgeons. 

She completed her General Surgery Training in AHEPA University Hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece and worked at the Theagenio Oncological Hospital Breast Unit in Thessaloniki, Greece before joining Guy’s and St Thomas’ Breast Unit in London as a Senior Oncoplastic Breast Fellow. The unit treats over 700 new breast cancer patient per year and works closely with the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome Genetics department and the Plastic Surgery Unit, performing risk reducing procedures and complex immediate and delayed breast reconstruction for both cancer treatment and breast cancer risk reduction. 

Miss Magra held formal teaching positions in the University of Cambridge Medical School and Aristotle University Thessaloniki. She has completed a Master of Science degree with Honours. She has attended multiple oncoplastic and breast reconstruction courses, including the ESSO and Royal Free advanced oncoplastic breast surgery courses and the Association of Breast Surgery Advanced Implant Based Breast Reconstruction course. She regularly attends and presents in Breast Surgery conferences, such as the San Antonio Breast Cancer symposium, the ESSO congress and the London Breast Meeting. She has also completed Breast Ultrasound training endorsed by the Association of Breast Surgery and the University of East Anglia. She is a member of ESSO and EUSOMA. Miss Magra has a special interest in breast preservation, oncoplastic techniques and breast reconstruction.

Dr. Laskaratos grew up in Athens and completed his medical degree at the University of Athens. He then moved to Switzerland, where he is currently conducting research at NeuroRestore, a research institute affiliated with EPFL and the Lausanne University Hospital.

His work focuses on bridging the brain and spinal cord after spinal cord injury by using gene therapy to regenerate severed neural pathways. The goal is to restore neurological functions such as walking, as well as hand and arm movement.

He has contributed to discoveries that restored walking after paralysis in mice by regenerating the spinal cord following complete spinal cord injury. He has also been involved in the development of therapies based on electrical stimulation that restore walking and improve blood pressure regulation in patients with spinal cord injury. His vision is to help turn paralysis into a treatable condition.

Dr Olubukola Ayodele is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) who specializes in the management of breast cancer. She is an honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Leicester and the Medical Oncology Breast Cancer Tumour Lead at UHL. Her clinical research fellowship in drug development was from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC) in Toronto, Canada, following internal medicine and specialist oncology training in the Republic of Ireland. 

She is a recipient of multiple awards including the 2021 ASCO Conquer Cancer Endowed Merit award. She is the author of multiple publications including book chapters and serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals.  Dr Ayodele has a portfolio of academic and commercial clinical trials in breast cancer where she is Chief Investigator, Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator and leads the breast cancer clinical trials portfolio at UHL. She runs these clinical trials alongside collaborative translational research projects focusing on molecular drivers and biomarkers in breast cancer.

She is on the Co-convenor of The London Global Cancer Week and organises the Friday In-person meeting focused on inequities in cancer care. She sits on the Breast Cancer Now Inequalities Funding Committee and the European Cancer Organisation Inequalities Network contributing to health policies.  Her initiative “The Ebony Experience With Cancer” (TEEWC), serves as a platform to educate and empower the black community, helping to demystify cancer with the aim to reduce the poor outcomes in cancer among the black population. She is the Co-Founder of Cancer Conversations CIC designed to bring cancer literacy into trusted spaces like churches and community groups to break the silence around cancer. She is an active member of the UK & Ireland Global Cancer Network and a trustee for many charities including the Make 2nds Count, British Nigerian Oncology Group and CupArise CIO.

Petros Petrou was born in Athens, Greece. He graduated from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece in 2004.

He completed his specialty training in ophthalmology at St Bartholomew’s and Royal London Hospitals in London, United Kingdom and at the University Hospital “Attikon” in Athens, Greece. After obtaining the certificate of completion of training in Ophthalmology in 2010 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Ophthalmology at the 2^nd Ophthalmology Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

He completed his Vitreoretinal Fellowship in Birmingham and Midlands Eye Center, Birmingham, United Kingdom and Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, United Kingdom (2011 –2014).

Since 2014, he has been a Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon and University Scholar at the 1^st Ophthalmology Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, “G.Gennimatas” Hospital which is a tertiary referral center for all of Greece. He has performed more than 7000 vitrectomy and more than 3000 cataract procedures.

In 2023, he was elected Assistant Professor in Ophthalmology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

He has presented extensively, both nationally and internationally as an invited speaker at Ophthalmology meetings and congresses. He currently serves as the elected Vice President of the Greek Vitreoretinal Society (GVRS), the official national retinal society in Greece, and as Vice President of the Greek Society of Ophthalmic Genetics.

 He has authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications and holds an h-index of 20. He is the holder of a European patent for an innovative scleral-fixated intraocular lens, developed with the support of the University of Athens (Archimedes Program). He is actively involved in medical education, teaching fifth-year medical students, ophthalmology residents, and postgraduate students pursuing their master’s degrees.

He is an accredited VR surgeon specializing in gene therapy and was one of the two surgeons who performed the first-ever gene therapy for RPE65-related retinal disease in Greece. He is also a co-founder of the country’s first accredited Gene Therapy Centre, which ranks among the top ten European centres for gene therapy in Ophthalmology. In addition, he has served as a Floretina surgeon, performing live surgeries for five consecutive years.

Doctor Konstantinos Michael Konstantinidis is the founder of Robotic Surgery in Greece and a pioneer in the field internationally. He has performed over 5,000 General Surgery operations using the innovative da Vinci robotic system, a number that constitutes the largest series of its kind in Europe and his compassion for his fellow man and his passion for Medicine brought him early on in his career to the forefront of the scientific avant-garde as well as the battle for life:

• From Karpathos, his birthplace, and Rhodes, where he graduated from the Venetokleion Gymnasium / Lyceum, he moved to Thessaloniki and the Aristotle University, where he graduated from the Medical School earning a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation for all his years of study.
• He then moved to the United States, where he was admitted for the General Surgery specialty at Riverside Hospital of Ohio State University School of Medicine.
• In the last year of his specialty, he received the honorary title of "Chief Resident".
• He was then elected Assistant Professor of Surgery and later Adjunct Professor of Surgery, at the same university.
• During his stay in the USA, he served as Director of the Surgery Clinic of Riverside Methodist Hospital, where he performed surgery and taught General Surgery, Laser Surgery and Laparoscopic Surgery for a number of years.

After 12 years of stay and a brilliant career in the USA, he returned to Athens in 1991 at the invitation of the President of Athens Medical Group, Mr. G. Apostolopoulos, in order to undertake the foundation, management and staffing of the Laparoscopic Surgery and Laser Applications department, for the first time in Greece.

From 1991 until today:

• The department he founded and manages ever since, has been constantly offering the most modern surgical techniques, such as Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery and Robotic Surgery, to a large number of patients from all over Greece and abroad.
• He has performed over 17,000 operations of Laparoscopic Surgery and over 5,000  of Robotic Surgery!
• He has trained many dozens of Greek and foreign surgeons in Laparoscopic Surgery.
• He has organized many intensive postgraduate training seminars in Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery and has been actively involved as a supervising/teaching surgeon in several hospitals for the first laparoscopic surgical operations taking place in their premises.

Since 2006 and being the first in Greece and SE Europe, he has been performing Robotic Surgery, using the innovative da Vinci system, expanding the scope of the field and performing pioneering surgical procedures with global impact, such as Whipple's robotic pancreatectomy.

His medical and scientific work has been receiving international acclaim:

• He is a Supervising Surgeon (Proctor) of Robotic Surgery in many university hospitals in Europe and especially in the UK!
• He has presented dozens of pioneering case studies on Laparoscopic and Robotic surgery at many conferences in Greece and abroad.
• He has organized and served as President of three World Congresses of Robotic Surgery.
• From January 2013 he took over the duties of Scientific Director at Athens Medical Group.
• From January 1, 2020 he is the Governor of the American College of Surgeons for Greece Chapter
• He is a Member of the Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, American College of Surgeons, MAMSE  
• He was President of the 15^thCRSA (Clinical Robotic Surgery Association) World Wide Congress in Rome, Italy, November 21-23, 2024

As a result of his extensive experience in Laparoscopic and Robotic Surgery, he was selected by the manufacturer Intuitive Surgical to be the first surgeon in the world to apply robotic surgery through a single incision (Single Site), a technique first introduced in March 2011 at Athens Medical Center.

He has already performed more than 600 operations with this technique, including the world's first single site robotic cholecystectomy in an 8-month pregnant woman!

Dr Pinelopi Zoi Stavrou, MBBS, iBSc, AFHEA completed the International Baccalaureate at Palladium Lyceum, Doukas School. She studied medicine at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and an intercalated BSc in Global Public Health.

Following two years of Foundation Training in London, she completed a Junior Clinical Fellow post in Critical Care. She then began Anaesthetic training and is currently working at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, where she is in her third year of Anaesthetic training.

She has a strong interest in Medical Education and is currently completing a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Medical Education. She also holds a formal teaching role as a Simulation Fellow with WiSER (West Herts initiative in Simulation Education and Research).

Head of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

Graduate of the Catholic University of Louvain, 1994

Certificate of Specialization in Pediatrics, 1999

Certificate of Specialization in Intensive Care, 2003

Interuniversity Diploma in Hereditary Metabolic Diseases 2023 (Paris Necker)

Prof. Dimitrios I. Fotiadis (Male), received the Diploma degree in chemical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, and the Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering and materials science from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He is currently a Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece, where he is also the Director of the Unit of Medical Technology and Intelligent Information Systems, an Affiliated Member of Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Biomedical Research Institute and Director MSc in Digital Health. He is member of the board of Michailideion Cardiac Center. He was a Visiting Researcher at the RWTH, Aachen, Germany, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. He has coordinated and participated in more than 250 R&D funded projects (in FP6, FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe and national Projects), being the coordinator (e.g. INSILC, TAXINOMISIS, HOLOBALANCE, CARDIOCARE, DECODE, etc.) and/orTechnical coordinator (e.g. SMARTOOL, KARDIATOOL, TO_AITION, etc.). He is the author or coauthor of more than 500 papers in scientific journals, more than 600 papers in peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and more than 50 chapters in books. He is also the author/editor of 30 books. His work has received more than 36,500 citations (h-index=87). He served as Editor in Chief of IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics from 2017-2024 and he is IEEE EMBS Fellow, EAMBES Fellow, Fellow of IAMBE, Fellow of AIAA, member of the IEEE Technical Committee of Biomedical Health Informatics, Editor in Chief of IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Member of the Editorial Board in IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering, member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and member of the National Academy of Artificial Intelligence (NAAI). His research interests include multiscale modelling of human tissues and organs, intelligent wearable/implantable devices for automated diagnosis, processing of big medical data, machine learning, sensor informatics, image informatics, and bioinformatics. He is the recipient of many scientific awards including the one by the Academy of Athens. He is the co-founder of PD Neurotechnology Ltd, UK, Intelligence4Rehaband SYNTHAINA AI.

Dr Nurshaim Tilenbaeva is a Technical Officer for Health Systems at the World Health Organization (WHO) Athens Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety. She is a medical doctor with additional qualifications in medical social work, public health policy, and management, and is a 2026 Fellow of the Kiani Interprofessional Patient Safety Network.

Dr Tilenbaeva has more than 15 years of experience with international humanitarian and development organizations, including the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the Aga Khan Foundation, and the United Nations World Food Programme. She has managed public health programmes on quality of care and patient safety, maternal and child health, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis control in the penitentiary system, food security and nutrition.

In her current role, Dr Tilenbaeva provides technical coordination and expertise to develop and implement Quality of Care and Patient Safety initiatives. She supports Member States to develop effective strategies and strengthening health system capacities to improve Quality of Care and Patient Safety across the Region.

Vasileia Kostaridou graduated from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) with a specialization in Materials Engineering and is currently completing her PhD in Biomedical Engineering, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) applications in epilepsy. She is also pursuing an MBA in Digital Health, further strengthening her expertise at the intersection of technology, health systems, and innovation. She has contributed to multiple EU-funded research projects as a researcher in the NTUA Biomedical Engineering Laboratory. With six years of experience in the medical device industry as a technical specialist and over 12 years of experience in quality management, she has been actively engaged in public health initiatives since 2013, with a focus on medical devices, health technology assessment (HTA), and quality of care. She is a certified

ISO 13485 and CE auditor for software as a medical device (SaMD), bringing extensive

experience in regulatory and quality systems. She joined the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2023 as a consultant in the Local Production and Assistance Unit, providing technical expertise on in vitro diagnostics (IVD) production in low- and middle-income countries. Since 2024, she has served as a Project Officer at the WHO Athens Quality of Care and Patient Safety Office, supporting quality indicators, WHO guideline adaptation, and data analytics, with a focus on integrating AI into healthcare quality and patient safety.

Dr. med. Kalliopi Athanassiadi, MD, PhD, FEBTS was born in Athens in December 1964. She graduated from the German School of Athens and attended the Medical School of the University of Athens. She specialized in Thoracic Surgery in Greece and then went to centers in Germany and Canada. She was Head of the Thoracic Surgery Department of the Medical School of Hanover, Germany. In 2009 she returned to Greece and was appointed as senior consultant in Thoracic Surgery, initially at the General Hospital of Piraeus and then at the General Hospital “EVANGELISMOS”, where she remains today and also serves as President of the Association of the Scientific Staff. She was elected president of the Hellenic Society of Thoracic-Cardiac-Vascular Surgeons and actively participates in European Societies, has been Regent of Greece and member of the Council of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons, member of the Thoracic Committee of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgery, co-founder of the European School (EACTS Academy), coordinator of the Thoracic Surgery Course and former general secretary of the Thoracic Group of the European Respiratory Society (ERS). Currently she is chairman of the Thoracic Group of ERS, member of the Guidelines Committee in Cardiothoracic Surgery of EACTS and serves as examiner in the European Examinations in Thoracic Surgery. She has organized Greek and European conferences including the first organized workshop on Thoracoscopic Surgery in Greece. She has over 300 presentations and 150 lectures in Greek and international conferences, contributed to the writing of over 20 Greek and international books and over 95 publications. Former active member of "Doctors of the World", founding member of "Medical Intervention". She speaks 7 foreign languages.

Georgios Katsanos, MD, PhD, was born in Lamia and graduated from the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1995 with the grade “Very Good” (“Lian Kalos”).

In 1997, he enlisted in the Hellenic Army, where he served for 22 months as a reserve officer in the Medical Corps. He was trained at the Infantry Reserve Officers School, the Hellenic Armed Forces CBRN Joint School, and the Medical Corps Training School (SEY). During his service, he worked as a physician at the Emergency Unit (Chios), as a Special Forces physician at the 3rd Special National Guard Battalion (Chios), and as a surgical resident at the 424 General Military Hospital of Thessaloniki.

In 2000, he was accepted into the Surgical Residency Program at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium.

In 2004, he was awarded a PhD from the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with “Excellent” distinction, for his doctoral thesis titled: “The Activity of Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase in Various Cell Lines.”

In 2005, he obtained the specialty title in Emergency Medicine (B.M.A. – Brevet de Médecine Aiguë) from ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Belgium.

In 2007, he obtained the specialty title in General Surgery from ULB and the competent Belgian Ministry, following national examinations, along with the license to practice medicine in Belgium.

After completing his specialty, he was appointed and worked as a full-time Transplant Surgeon (Attending) in the Department of Abdominal Organ Transplantation at the University Surgical Clinic of CHU Erasme Hospital, ULB, Brussels.

In 2008, he returned to Greece, where from July 2008 to January 2010 he served as a Scientific Associate at the 1st Surgical Clinic of Papageorgiou Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

As part of his subspecialization in transplantation and living-donor liver surgery, in November 2010 he worked as Chef de Clinique Associé (CCA) in the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation (Prof. Olivier Soubrane) at Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.

From November 2011 to April 2018, he served as a full-time Transplant Surgeon at CHU Erasme, ULB, Brussels—initially as Attending Surgeon (Chef de Clinique) and from October 2015 as Senior Attending / University Hospital Practitioner (PHU – Praticien Hospitalier Universitaire). During this period, in collaboration with the Hôpital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola (HUDERF), he specialized in pediatric kidney transplantation. He also participated in emergency on-call duties and performed a large number of surgical procedures covering the full spectrum of general surgery. He further specialized in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplantation.

In 2016, he obtained a postgraduate diploma in Liver, Pancreas, and Biliary Surgery from Paul Brousse Hospital, Université Paris-Sud, Paris, France.

In May 2018, he was unanimously elected Assistant Professor of Surgery with a focus on Transplant Surgery at the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and was appointed to the Transplant Surgery Clinic of Hippokration Hospital of Thessaloniki, where he continues to work. In October 2023, he was unanimously elected Associate Professor of Surgery at AUTH.

Georgios Katsanos is a former Vice President of the Hellenic Transplant Society and an active representative of Greece in the Transplantation Section of the UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists), where he also serves as an examiner in postgraduate examinations.

He has extensive clinical experience in all areas of abdominal solid organ transplantation and hepatopancreatobiliary surgery. In the past, he was one of the two lead physicians responsible for pediatric kidney transplantation at HUDERF (Hôpital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola).

Since 2016, he has been Associate Editor of Acta Chirurgica Belgica, the official journal of the Royal Belgian Society for Surgery (RBSS).

He has a significant publication record in international journals and has participated in numerous conferences in Greece and abroad. His total h-index is 11, with more than 600 international citations.

Dr Michalis Klimatsidas is a thoracic surgeon and holder of a Doctorate from the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Initially trained as a military physician, he pursued advanced specialist training abroad, where he resided for several years. Following the acquisition of his specialty and after extensive clinical experience in the United Kingdom - where he served as a Consultant Thoracic Surgeon in Glasgow - he brought his expertise and specialisation back to Greece. He currently practices in Thessaloniki, his home city, receiving patients at St. Luke's Private Hospital in Panorama, Thessaloniki. In collaboration with the St. Luke's Clinic, he offers patients access to minimally invasive thoracic surgery as well as robotic thoracic surgery; fields which represent both his clinical specialisation and his foremost professional passion. Dr Klimatsidas holds particular expertise in single-port minimally invasive thoracic surgery (Uniportal VATS) and robotic thoracoscopic surgery, Robotic VATS (RATS). Robotic minimally invasive thoracic surgery represents a highly novel and pioneering field, especially within the Greek medical landscape. Dr Klimatsidas, together with his surgical team at the St. Luke's Clinic, performed the first robotically assisted lobectomy using the Da Vinci X system; a landmark procedure constituting the first operation of its kind in Greece, Cyprus, and the Balkans using this robotic surgical platform, as well as the first robotic thoracic surgery ever performed in Northern Greece by a Greek thoracic surgeon.

Manolis Papagiannakis is a MedTech expert with two decades of experience in the development, validation, and commercialization of innovative medical technologies. He works with early-stage start-ups to build compliant, high-quality products, providing strategic guidance and hands-on support in product development, quality management, regulatory compliance, and clinical validation, with particular focus on software-driven applications.

Previously, Manolis served as Senior Clinical Director at DYSIS Medical, a spin-off from FORTH, that developed and commercialized a disruptive imaging technology for cervical cancer prevention. Over nineteen years, he experienced the full cycle of a start-up -from early R&D to international commercialization- with leadership roles in various aspects of the business, including technology and software development, clinical strategy and operations, regulatory affairs and market access. He led cross-functional teams, managed international clinical studies, and established research collaborations that resulted in patents and scientific publications.

Manolis holds a PhD in Biophysics from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a BSc in Physics from the University of Crete.

Alexandros Brotis is a neurosurgeon with extensive clinical and academic experience. He completed his neurosurgery residency in Larissa and continued with advanced studies, obtaining a Master’s degree (MSc) in Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, as well as a PhD focused on Adjacent Segment Degeneration.

He has significant scientific activity, having authored more than 20 book chapters and 149 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, actively contributing to the advancement of neurosurgical knowledge.

In 2025, he served as President of the Hellenic Spine Society (HSSS) and Chair of the Organizing Committee of the Society’s 18th Congress, recognized for his leadership in the field.

He teaches Spinal Pathology at the Medical School of the University of Thessaly and also participates as an instructor in three postgraduate programs at the same university. In addition, he is an instructor in cadaveric courses and in the certification course series of the Hellenic Spine Society.

He currently works as a neurosurgeon at UHL and holds the position of Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at UT, combining clinical practice with teaching and research.