Kostas Stamatopoulos
Scientific Committee Member
What this (really) means
Being a member of the Scientific Committee of the ECPC is both an honor and an opportunity as it will allow me to further engage in activities related to patient engagement in care, patient-centric clinical research, implementation of Precision Oncology in routine clinical practice and reduction of inequalities in cancer care, aligned with the aims and scope of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the EU Cancer Mission.
Background
Dr. Kostas Stamatopoulos is a specialist in Hematology, Director of the Institute of Applied Biosciences at CERTH, the Center for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece. He also holds the position of Visiting Professor in Lymphoma Biology at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Between 2018-2021, Dr Stamatopoulos served as the coordinator of the Hellenic Precision Medicine Network in Oncology. He is the national delegate to Horizon Europe and the EU Cancer Mission; member of the Research and European Affairs Committes of the European Hematology Association; Board member of ERIC, the European Research Initiative on chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Steering Committee member of the Scientific Working Group on Precision Hematology of the European Hematology Association. His research interests include: precision medicine in cancer; immunobiology of lymphoid malignancies; and, patient empowerment in care.
Why cancer?
I have been involved in cancer research since my graduation from the University of Athens in 1990. In the ensuing years, I have worked as a physician scientist specializing in lymphoid malignancies, where my main focus was on innovative diagnostics and a fundamental understanding of immune interactions in the natural history of these cancers. My work has contributed to refining risk stratification of patients, while also offering novel insight regarding how to inhibit the aforementioned interactions, with important implications for optimizing patient care. In the last 10 years, I have been very motivated to work in a multidisciplinary environment, including -amongst others- health psychologists and experts in eHealth. Our activities, often run in the frame of the European Hematology Association, revolve around supporting patients with cancer thoughout their journey via innovative approaches and addressing the issue of patient empowerment in care through both educating the patients but also improving physician communication skills.
