Professor of Surgery Nikos Arkadopoulos and Professor of Cardiology Kostas Tsioufis have been re-elected as Chair and Vice-Chair of the School of Medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, securing over 95% of the vote in an election with a turnout of 94.1%, reflecting exceptionally high participation.
The vote, cast by 600 faculty members, reaffirms strong confidence in the leadership of Greece’s oldest (founded in 1837) and largest medical school, which continues to expand its academic, clinical, and international footprint.
Today, the Athens Medical School offers three undergraduate and more than 80 postgraduate programmes, educating thousands of students while strengthening its global presence. Its English-taught Medical Degree Programme, launched four years ago, has already attracted 160 students from 30 countries.
In a landmark development, the School recently established its first Greek-speaking branch outside Greece, in Nicosia, where the inaugural cohort of 40 students has already enrolled.
The School consistently attracts top-performing students nationwide, with average entry scores exceeding 19,200 points over the past five years. Its academic and research performance has also earned it a leading position among medical schools in Greece and Cyprus, as well as a place among the top 100 worldwide in the 2026 US News Best Global Universities rankings.
A further indication of its growing international standing is its success in reversing brain drain. Through competitive appointments, the School has brought back more than 30 distinguished Greek scientists from abroad in recent years.
Its clinical and research activities are equally extensive. With 92 departments and laboratories operating across 16 hospitals in Athens, the School plays a central role in supporting the national health system, while also providing high-level training across all healthcare disciplines. Its departments remain the top choice for medical residency placements in Greece across most specialties.
In a joint statement, the Chair and Vice-Chair expressed their gratitude for the trust placed in them and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the School’s role in education, research, and healthcare.
ACADEMIC CVs
Chair of the School of Medicine
Professor Nikolaos F. Arkadopoulos holds both a medical degree and a PhD, each awarded with First-Class Honours, from the School of Medicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He completed his residency in general surgery at Aretaieio Hospital and a fellowship in the United States at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA School of Medicine. After progressing through the academic ranks, he was unanimously elected Full Professor of Surgery at the University of Athens and Director of the 4th Department of Surgery at Attikon University Hospital (2018–present). He specialises in surgical oncology, where he has introduced innovative surgical techniques, and is widely recognised for his extensive research output, which includes 250 international publications, 400 conference presentations, and chapters in edited volumes. For his scientific work, he has received 40 national and international awards. He has given more than 350 lectures at national and international conferences. He is the founder and director of the MSc programme in Breast Diseases. He serves on the board of several national and international scientific societies, and has held many significant leadership roles including: Vice-Chair of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens (2021–2023) – President of the Board of Directors of the Aretaieio and Aiginiteio University Hospitals (2021–2023), Chair of the School of Medicine at the University of Athens (2023–present), President of the American College of Surgeons – Greek Chapter (2023–present), Vice-President of the Athens Medical Society (2023–present), Vice-President of the Board of the Children’s Oncology Unit ‘Elpida’ (2025–present), and Chair of the Surgical Specialty Examination Committee (2023–present). He is married to Electra Nicolaidou, a Professor of Dermatology and Venereology at the University of Athens, and they have two daughters.
Vice-Chair of the School of Medicine
Konstantinos Tsioufis is Professor of Cardiology and Director of the 1st Department of Cardiology at Hippokration General Hospital of Athens.
His main clinical and research interests include interventional cardiology, cardiac rhythm management device implantation, hypertension, cardiorenal disease, and neurocardiology. He completed his fellowship in the United States at the Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA.
He has authored more than 1,220 papers in peer-reviewed journals with an H-index exceeding 70 and has received over 24,000 citations. His research activity in neuromodulation, with a particular focus on renal denervation, has gained widespread international recognition. He has repeatedly served on the hypertension and preventive cardiology guideline task forces.
He has also served as President of the Hellenic Society of Cardiology (2016–2018) and the European Society of Hypertension (2017–2019). He is currently Vice-Chair of the School of Medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – President of the Board of Directors of the Aretaieio and Aiginiteio University Hospitals and Chief of Medicine at Hippokration General Hospital of Athens.
