I started and completed my studies at the Medical School of the University of Crete in 2002. As a student I visited the ENT Clinic of Harvard University after my examinations and was impressed by the scope of the ENT specialty. I started and completed my residency from 2005 to 2010 at the University Clinic of Erlangen, which is one of the three largest ENT Clinics in Germany with 90 beds and 6 operating rooms daily. It is one of the world’s largest and perhaps the most renowned salivary gland centre, (modern salivary gland instruments were developed in Erlangen) the largest cochlear implant centre in Bavaria (140 cochlea/year) and one of the largest surgical oncology centres in Germany.

After my training in the general operations of the specialty (tonsillectomies, septoplasties, etc.) I was trained in particular in head and neck oncology and salivary gland surgery, so that I perform unsupervised cervical lymph node cleanings from the 3rd year and laryngectomies from the 5th year of the specialty. A year before the end of residency I even started doing on-call duties as a curator! Additional training in endoscopic surgery of the paranasal sinuses. During the residency I also received 6 months of training in the management of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit of the ENT clinic.

In July 2010 I successfully passed my exams and received the title of ENT specialist and continued to work as a B attending and since December 2013 as an A attending at the clinic in Erlangen. I was trained and specialised in surgical oncology, especially in transoral laryngeal and vocal cord tumour removal with CO2 laser and plastic flap reconstructive surgery. In addition in Head and Neck gland surgery with special emphasis on parotidectomies and thyroidectomies, microsurgical anastomoses of the facial nerve. Also in endoscopic paranasal surgery, such as ethmoid surgery and restoration of nasal cerebrospinal fluid.

I trained in thyroid gland surgery with a special fellowship at the University Clinic in Prague and then I organized and in 2012 I became Head of the Department of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery in Erlangen performing more than 150 procedures until my retirement from the clinic in 2014. In addition, I independently started performing ear surgery after preparing more than 30 temporal bones and attending special seminars.

The Erlangen Clinic has one of the largest and most specialized ultrasound centers in Germany, conducting three Head and Neck Ultrasound seminars every year, certified by DEGUM (German Society for the Use of Ultrasound in Medicine). In 2010 I was in charge of the department for 6 months (under the guidance of the deputy director, Prof. Zenk) performing more than 2000 ultrasound examinations. I then obtained the title of instructor (DEGUM level 3) and since then I have maintained a very active role in training colleagues and a scientific interest in head and neck ultrasound. In total I have performed more than 10,000 ultrasound examinations and I am now a DEGUM 3 (higher level) instructor. In April 2019, my postgraduate training in head and neck ultrasound was recognized by the Ministry of Health in Greece and I became the first ENT doctor in Greece with the right to perform and teach Head and Neck Ultrasound to ENT specialists in our country.

In March 2014 I accepted Professor J. Zenk’s invitation and was appointed deputy director and deputy director of the Augsburg University Hospital, which has more than 60 regular and 4 intensive care beds. In addition, it has 3 operating theatres per day in which a total of more than 3,000 operations are performed every year.

At the Augsburg Clinic I was responsible for the surgical treatment of patients with diseases of the Head and Neck Veins (Parotid and Thyroid) and head and neck tumors especially those requiring diastolic ablation with CO2 Laser and plastic reconstruction with hemispherical and free flaps. I also frequently chaired the clinic’s weekly oncology board. In total, I have performed more than 1000 oncological procedures and more than 100 flaps.

In addition, I was in charge of the Department of Otolaryngology in which I performed about 100 ear surgeries per year (more than 400 surgeries in total). Also together with Professor Zenk I was responsible for salivary gland, thyroid and cochlear implant surgeries. In particular, we developed the cochlear implant department entirely, since from one surgery in 2013, in 2018 we performed more than 40 procedures (20 of which I performed as the sole surgeon). On average, I performed more than 400 surgeries per year from 2010 to 2019. In 2019, I received the specialization title “Head and Neck Plastic Surgery” in Germany after an examination.

On 10.05.2018 I was elected full professor of Otolaryngology at the University Clinic of Ioannina, where I was sworn in and took office on 15.04.2019 under the direction of Professor Ioannis Kastanioudakis.

In September 2022 I took over the management of the ENT clinic of the University Hospital of Ioannina, in a clinic that now has 7 residents and 6 specialist doctors and covers the widest range of Head and Neck surgery. Under my direction the ENT Clinic has become an important Surgical Center for
the whole Epirus especially in Surgical Treatment of Laryngeal Tumors with CO2 Laser, for Salivary Gland Surgery (Parotid, Submandibular) and for Thyroid and Parathyroid Gland Surgery. In addition, it has become the first Head and Neck Ultrasound Training Centre in our country. In addition, from 2021 I have started cooperation with the largest private hospitals in Greece, such as IASO Thessaly and Athens, the Medical Trans-Balkan Center of Thessaloniki and the Euromedica General Clinic of Thessaloniki for the performance of specialized surgical procedures.

Upon my appointment at Erlangen in 2005 I started my PhD thesis entitled “The evaluation of the new TNM classification (2002) for advanced laryngeal neoplasms” under the supervision of Prof. Iro. Which I completed in 2009 with “high distinction”.

In 2008 I became the scientific manager of the official Erlangen oncology database with more than 9000 patients and we started the immunohistochemical and PCR analysis of oropharyngeal cancer patients for the detection of HPV, which was my main research field also in the context of my thesis on Hyphagia which I completed in 2013 and for which I was awarded by the Dr. Wolfbauer-Stiftung with a prize of 2.500 €.

After completing the Hephaestus, I was appointed as Privatdozent first at Erlagen and then at the LMU Munich, a position I still hold today. Additional fields of research were salivary glands, salivary glands, salivary glands and the use of elastographic ultrasound. I have also been a certified clinical research investigator since 2009 and participated in several prospective multicenter studies. In Erlangen I supervised three PhD theses including one (Ryzek) from start to finish. In total I have 65 publications, of which 61 in Pubmed with a cumulative impact factor of 105 and about 750 bibliographic citations (h- Index=17, i-10 Index=25).

In total I have participated in more than 100 free papers and posters and have given 30 invited talks, many of them at major international conferences. In 2017 in particular I had the honour, among others, to be an invited speaker at the World Congress in Paris, the Pan-European Congress in Barcelona and the Panhellenic Congress in Athens!

In addition, I have completed a monograph based on the Dissertation on Hygiene, I have participated in the writing of 2 books, the organization of 30 seminars-conferences and I have participated in more than 200 scientific events collecting more than 2400 hours of continuing medical education (CME).

In 2020 a review I wrote in collaboration with 10 European university professors on parotid surgery was published in the official journal of the pan-European ENT society.

In Ioannina I am a supervisor of doctoral theses on HPV in Head and Neck Oncology, in Thyroid Gland and Parotid Surgery. We are participating as a clinic in a multicenter study on the importance of HPV in oropharyngeal cancer and we are the 2nd center nationwide in number of patients. In addition we continue research protocols and the importance of Elastography in Head and Neck Ultrasound and the importance of Neuromonitoring in Parotid and Thyroid Gland Surgery. In October 2022 I organized the 1st Seminar on Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound in Ioannina, which is repeated with great success every year.

In the context of my dissertation on Teaching for Humanities, I attended a series of seminars (80 hours) on University Teaching and obtained a university teaching qualification. I also participated in the PERLE program and was the sole instructor of the course “Immersion in ENT Examination”, in which students were taught the use of rigid and flexible endoscope, ear microscopy and the use of ultrasound in the neck.

As part of my duties as an assistant professor at the LMU Munich from 2014 onwards, I had the main responsibility for the content and delivery of the course “ENT Oncological Diseases” and participated in the courses “ENT clinical examination” and “ENT case presentation”.

At Augsburg I was responsible for: the weekly courses for the hospital students doing their 5th year clinical internship, the training of the students in our clinic and the postgraduate courses for the residents. I had also organized the weekly “Journal Club” of the clinic. Particularly in Augsburg I was also responsible for the postgraduate training of colleagues coming to our clinic.

Apart from these I have participated as an instructor in a large number of seminars particularly in the fields of ultrasound, surgical oncology, salivary gland and thyroid surgery and the use of intraoperative neurostimulation in the head and neck.

Since May 2019 I have been together with Mr. Kastanioudakis in charge of the course of Otolaryngology to the 4th year students of the University of Ioannina. Since May 2019 I have been together with Mr. Kastanioudakis in charge of the course and the clinical practice of Otolaryngology to the 4th year students of the University of Ioannina. Since September 2022 I am the course leader of the course which has been reformed and integrated into the clinical practice of the students.