Professor Nikolaos Scarmeas
Dr Scarmeas is currently Professor of Neurology at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, while he maintains a faculty position at Columbia University in New York too. Dr Scarmeas shares his research time between the two institutions. His educational and clinical work includes seeing patients of older age with dementias and cognitive dysfunction, supervising and teaching of Medical students and Neurology residents at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
His research interests have started from the topic of cognitive reserve (i.e. how higher IQ, education, more demanding occupational attainments, or more engagement in cognitive-social-physical leisure - lifestyle activities – physical activities etc can help older adults cope better with the damage caused to their brains by AD and aging and therefore reduce their risk for dementia and slow down their rates of cognitive and functional decline). He subsequently developed a special interest in the contribution of diet (in particular composite dietary patterns such as a Mediterranean-type diet and others) as well as the biological mechanisms of this contribution in dementias and healthy aging. He has been addressing his research (and additional ones, i.e. APOE related etc) using clinical, epidemiological and imaging (PET, MRI etc) methodological approaches (see full publication record for more details). Dr Scarmeas has been the Principal Investigator in studies funded by either the Alzheimer's Association (IIRG) or the National Institute of Health – National Institute of Aging in the US and a Co-Investigator in multiple others. His research work has resulted in >290 original PubMed publications in highly esteemed journals (>20500 Scopus citations, Scopus h-index = 76) and multiple presentations in internationally acclaimed scientific conferences - meetings. He has been invited to review for about 300 international scientific journals and 49 international funding agencies from the Americas, Europe, Oceania etc, including internationally renowned organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Association, the US National Institute of Health, the European Union programs (i.e. Marie Curie, European Research Council), the Wellcome Trust in UK etc. For more information regarding Dr Scarmeas’ work see here.
Elias Manolakos
Elias S. Manolakos (Linkedin) (orcid) is a Professor with the Dept of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Athens, and a Visiting Professor with Northeastern University's Bouve' College of Health Sciences in Boston. He has also held notable appointments as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard's Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering and as an Assistant and tenured Associate Professor at Northeastern University's Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where he directed the Communications and Digital Signal Processing (CDSP) Center, an NSF Center of Excellence.
Dr. Manolakos' multidisciplinary research prowess lies at the intersection of machine and deep learning for signal processing, high-performance computing, and their applications in digital health, drug design, and biomedical data science. His commitment to interdisciplinary exploration is exemplified by his leadership roles in over 20 funded research projects in the European Union and the United States, bridging computational and life sciences. Actively engaged in professional service, Dr. Manolakos has been elected to the IEEE International Technical Committees on Machine Learning for Signal Processing and the Design and Implementation of Signal Processing Systems for two consecutive terms. He has served on the editorial boards of prestigious journals, including IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing and IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks. Additionally, his expertise has been recognized through invitations to serve as a judge or mentor in several startup competitions in Greece and Poland. Dr. Manolakos' scholarly contributions encompass over 130 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. Elias is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Christopher Papandreou
Dr. Christopher Papandreou (orcid) is an Assistant Professor at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in Greece and a Senior Researcher at the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) in Spain. He has participated in 17 research projects and has been the Principal Investigator (PI) in 6 international programs funded by bodies such as the Alzheimer’s Association (USA), the Almond Board of California (USA), and the Institute of Health Carlos III (Spain).
He has published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals such as the European Respiratory Journal, Diabetes Care, Clinical Chemistry, Metabolism, Diabetologia, Cell & Bioscience, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis & Vascular Biology, and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Throughout his career, he has acquired extensive experience in the development of epidemiological and clinical studies that evaluate the relationship between diet, lifestyle factors, and human health, as well as the underlying biochemical and molecular mechanisms.
Eirini Mamalaki
Eirini Mamalaki is a Dietician-Nutritionist, MSc, PhD. Currently, she a post-doc researcher in the Memory Clinic of the 1st Department of Neurology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Aiginiteio Hospital). She has participated in many research studies concerning eating habits across the lifespan and and the role of lifestyle in preventing cognitive decline. Her research interests focus on eating behavior and eating habits, on lifestyle and their relation with cognitive health of older people. She has published >30 scientific articles in international peer review journals and >25 communications in conferences. For more information regarding Dr Mamalaki’s publications, please see here.
Eva Ntanasi
Eva Ntanasi, MSc, PhD, is a Psychologist specialized in Neuropsychology. Currently, she is a post-doc researcher in the Memory Clinic of the 1st Department of Neurology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Aiginiteio Hospital). She has participated in many research protocols concerning epidemiology, prevention and treatment of dementia and frailty. Her research interests focus on the neurodegenerative and geriatric diseases and has published many articles in scientific journals (Scopus h-index: 16 and Google scholar: h-index: 18). For more information, please see here.
Argyro Daskalaki
Argyro Daskalaki is a Neurologist - graduated Athens Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is an honors graduate of the Master's Program in "Clinical Neuropsychology" of the EKPA. She worked as a specialist doctor in the United Kingdom, at Guy's & St Thomas, King's College and St George's hospitals in London, while she completed training at the Neurological Clinic of the Athens General Hospital "Evangelismos". She was a founding member of the Memory Clinic of the Polyclinic, Athens.
Since 2014 she has been participating in the Special Clinic for Mental Disorders at the First University Neurological Clinic of Eginition Hospital, while since 2020 been considered a full-time Fellow. Her scientific and research interests mainly relate to dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, she has been appointed as a Sub-Investigator in Clinical Trials for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early Dementia.
Georgia Tsilikopoulou
Georgia Tsilikopoulou is a licensed psychologist specialized in clinical neuropsychology. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), she completed a three-year master’s degree program in clinical neuropsychology at Medical School of NKUA and Health Science Center of University of Texas. Her internship took place at the 1st Department of Neurology and 1st Department of Psychiatry of Aiginitio University Hospital, NKUA and at the Pediatric Neurology Department of Pendeli Children’s Hospital and since 2014 works in private practice as a clinical neuropsychologist, providing neuropsychological assessment and intervention services. Since September of 2021 has joined Cognitive Disorders Clinic of Aiginitio University Hospital, NKUA where she provides clinical and research services. Her clinical and research interests focus on acquired brain injuries, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Ioannis Karpouzis
Ioannis is a Certified Cardiology Specialist. Starting with a distinguished medical degree (Hons) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and during his ten-year career in medicine, he has a proven track record of providing high-quality patient care, leadership and teaching across various healthcare settings. Pursuing deeper data analysis and machine learning expertise, he also completed NKUA’s International MSc program in Bioinformatics and Biomedical Data Science, acquiring strong programming skills and knowledge in supervised/unsupervised learning, biostatistics, and signal processing. His MSc thesis focused on developing machine learning methods to predict early-stage dementia using actigraphy data. Being highly motivated to translate this knowledge into practical applications, he seeks opportunities to leverage machine learning for data interpretation, imaging, and signal processing in the medical field.
Konstantina Sfrintzeri
Konstantina is completing her MSc degree in Biomedical Data Science and Bioinformatics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece. Before that, she completed an Integrated Master’s degree (5-year) in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), specializing in telecommunication, computer systems, computer software, and bioengineering. Her NTUA thesis was on an explainable XGBoost- based approach to assess the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus, resulting in a publication that received the Best Student Paper Award at the 20th IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE 2020). Her research interests include biomedical data science, machine and deep learning, cheminformatics, and biomedical engineering.
Eleni Panagiotopoulou
Eleni is pursuing an MSc in Data Science and Information Technologies with a specialization in Bioinformatics and Biomedical Data Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Her academic journey began with an Integrated MSc degree in Biotechnology from the Agricultural University of Athens. During her studies, she also completed two internships abroad at the Helmholtz-Centre, Potsdam, Germany, and at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute in Croatia. In Germany, the internship focused on microbial life under extreme environmental conditions, while in Croatia, it focused on the potential impact of extreme marine environments on the sulfur and carbon cycle of a lake ecosystem. These experiences allowed her to develop a strong foundation in molecular biology, biochemistry, and environmental sciences and a strong interest in biomedical data science and digital health technologies. Moreover, they satisfied her desire to travel and learn new cultures and languages. So, in addition to Greek, she is fluent in English and Spanish, and she speaks French and some German.
Vasileios-Klearchos Chatzitolios
Vasileios-Klearchos Chatzitolios is pursuing an MSc in Data Science and Information Technologies, specializing in Biomedical Data Science, at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he focused on Soft Matter Physics, and completed an academic exchange at the University of Bologna with an emphasis on Particle Physics. He subsequently undertook advanced coursework in Biophysics at Sapienza University of Rome, further strengthening his background at the interface of theoretical physics and biological systems. His current research interests lie in Biomedical Data Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Neuroscience, with a particular focus on computational approaches to cognition and biological complexity.
Violetta Gkika
Violetta is a Bioinformatician currently completing her MSc in Bioinformatics and Biomedical Data Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She brings a strong computational foundation to biological challenges, holding a BSc in Computer Science from NKUA, earned as a recipient of a Hellenic Republic State Scholarship, where she developed specialized expertise in machine learning. Her previous work includes roles in both research and industry, ranging from Virtual Reality Developer to Research Assistant in projects focused on single-cell RNA-seq analysis and computer vision. Currently, her master's thesis investigates the human pancreatic tumor microenvironment by integrating single-cell and spatial data to decipher complex cellular interactions. She is particularly interested in utilizing multi-omics integration to unravel disease mechanisms and support translational clinical research.
Ioannis Mystakidis
Ioannis is a graduate student in the Data Science Master’s program at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the same institution. His work in the project focuses on the analysis of actigraphy data to detect mild cognitive impairment. He applies machine learning and signal processing techniques to extract circadian rhythm patterns and sleep-wake dynamics associated with cognitive decline. Prior to this, he worked as a Data Scientist in the industry, where he focused on developing and deploying predictive modeling solutions for large-scale operations.