Demosthenes PANAGIOTAKOS, PhD(Med), FRSPH, FACE

What I have learned from my work is that even with the most complicated problems, you've got to look deep in your data to find every piece evidence that you can, in order to improve your decisions. Medicine has taught me to be very much evidence-based and data-driven in making decisions.

Dr Panagiotakos (born, 1967) is Professor in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Harokopio University in Athens (HUA), Greece, and Chair of the Bioethics Committee at Harokopio University (2022-2025 & 2025-2028). During 2016-2019 he was vice Rector of Financial Affairs, Research and Development at Harokopio University and President of the Research Committee; previously has served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics (2012), Dean of the School of Health Science & Education (2013-2016), and Director of the School's Graduate Studies (2011-2015). He is also adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia (2017-2026).

Dr Panagiotakos is Member of the Scientific Committee on Health, Environment and Emerging Risks | DG Health and Food Safety, of the European Commission (SCHEER, 2016-2026).

Education

• Post-doc Georgetown University Medical School & Veterans Affairs Medical Center, USA
• Ph.D. University of Athens, Greece
• Pg.D. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
• M.Sc University of Athens, Greece
• B.Sc. University of Patras, Greece

Research & Publications

His current research focuses on:

• Cardiovascular epidemiology; Risk modeling; Biostatistics and Data Analysis | Nutrition 

He has supervised as Principal Investigator 20+ large-scale, epidemiological studies (including ATTICA Study, GREECS Study, CARDIO2000 Study) and research funded projects (15,2M in total), as well as 25+ PhD theses. 

He has published 5 books ("Cardiovascular Epidemiology" (1st Ed. 2005), "Biostatistics" (1st Ed., 2007), "Medical Research Methodology" (1st Ed. 2009, 2nd Ed. 2012), "General Epidemiology" (1st Ed. 2023), "Applied Biostatistics using Stata & SPSS" (2025)), 1,000+ scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals (Scopus ID 7005977027), as well as 50+ papers in national journals and Conference proceedings. 

He has given more than 400 invited lectures in 25 countries around the world in the field of cardiovascular disease epidemiology, nutrition and public health. I have actively participated in campaigns against tobacco use and substances, exposure to environmental tobacco smoking, as well as for the promotion of healthy dietary patterns and particularly the Mediterranean diet. 

Governmental positions

He is Board Member of the Scientific Council of the Hellenic Food Authority | Ministry of Agriculture, for third time (2009-2015, 2022-2026, 2026-2029).

During 2019-2022, he was v/President and Member of the Board of Directors of the National Public Health Organization (NPHO/EODY). He has also served as Board Member of the National Nutrition Policy Committee (2015-2018) | Ministry of Health and the National Council of Public Health (2012-2015).

Scientific positions

Dr Panagiotakos has served as Expert for major International Organizations (including World Health Organization (WHO), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), European Innovation Council (EIC), European Council of Auditors, EASME, EC Joint Research Centre (JRC), etc). 

He is Senior Editor of the BMC Medical Research Methods and Editor-in-Chief of Review of Diabetes Studies journals, and Associate Editor and Editorial Board member in 20 other international journals. He is also reviewer for 70+ international journals. 

He is the President of the Hellenic Atherosclerosis Society (2024-2026), for a second time (2018-2019), and a Board Member of the Hellenic Heart Foundation. He has served as Section Board Member and Member of the Prevention Implementation Committee of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC, 2016-2022), and in several national Scientific Societies. 

He is elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (FRSPH) and the American College of Epidemiology (FACE).

D-Index & Metrics

According to international listings, Dr Panagiotakos is one of the Top 2% of the world's most cited scientists for five years in a row, and on Top10 in Greece. 

D-index 120 | Citations 63,000+ | Publications 1,234 | World Ranking Top 2% Medicine | National Ranking Top10 

Awards & Achievements

2026 – ScholarGPS (//scholargps.com), World; productivity Top rank, 0.01%, impact Top rank, 0.05%, quality Top rank, 0.06%, overall Top rank (world), 0.02%

2025 - Research.com Medicine Leader Award

2025 List of Top 2% Highly Cited Scientists in the World (medicine and health sciences) (Ioannidis, John P.A. (2025), "August 2025 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"", Elsevier Data Repository, V8, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.8)

2024 - Research.com Medicine Leader Award

2024 List of Top 2% Highly Cited Scientists in the World (medicine and health sciences) (updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators. Elsevier Data Repository, V7, doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.7

2023 List of Top 2% Highly Cited Scientists in the World (medicine and health sciences) (updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators. PLoS Biol 2023;6: doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.6

2022 List of Top 2% Highly Cited Scientists in the World (medicine and health sciences) (updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators. 

2021 List of Top 2% Highly Cited Scientists in the World (medicine and health sciences) (updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators. PLoS Biol 2023;6: doi: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.6 

2022 List of Top 1% Highly Cited Researchers (World)  (h>100) according to Google Scholar Citations (2022).

2023 - Research.com Medicine Leader Award

2022 - Research.com Medicine Leader Award