Dr. Leonidas Stefanis obtained his MD from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in 1987. He obtained his PhD from the same Institution in 1992. . He specialized in Neurology at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia University in New York in the period 1991-1995. In the period 1995-1998 he was employed as a post-doctoral Clinical Fellow in the Division of Behavioral Neurology as well as a post-doctoral Research Fellow in the laboratory of Lloyd Greene, in the Department of Pathology at Columbia University.
In 1998 he was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Neurology at Columbia University, position which he held up till 2003. During this period, he worked in the Neurology Department, and in particular in the Division of Neurodegenerative diseases, on mechanisms of neuronal cell death. In 2003 he returned to Greece, as Researcher Level B at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA). In 2006 he was appointed as Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology at the second Department of Neurology of the NKUA at Attikon Hospital, position which he held up till 2012, when he was elected Professor. In 2011 he assumed the position of Director of the Second Department of Neurology, position which he held up till 2017, when he moved as Director to the First Department of Neurology of the NKUA at Eginitio Hospital.
The activities of Dr. Stefanis include the administrative duties that are related to his position, the coordination of the educational, research and clinical activities of the First Department of Neurology, as well as his more specific clinical, research and educational activities in the field of Movement disorders, and Parkinson’s Disease in particular. He continues to collaborate with BRFAA, where he directs the laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases. His research is focused on the etiopathogenesis of Parkinson’s Disease and related disorders, covering the range from the genetic basis of the disease, its clinical manifestations and biomarkers, to its basic biological mechanisms, using cell and animal models.
The research activity of Dr. Stefanis has been funded by many sources, including the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, the Michael J Fox Foundation, the National Institute of Health, the European Commission, the Hellenic Ministry of Education, and the Hellenic General Secreteriat of Research and Technology. He has also coordinated competitive Greek and European Research programs.
Dr. Stefanis has acted as a reviewer or expert evaluator for >100 international journals, as well as for many Organizations and Foundations and Institutes in a variety of countries, including Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Australia, France, Great Britain, Canada, U.S.A., and the European Union (European Research Council).
He has published more than 140 articles in international journals, with more than 10500 citations and an H Index of 50 (Scopus).
For more information on the publications of Dr. Stefanis see: