Invited Lecture of Prof. Androniki Naska at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Posted on: 10/05/2023

On May 10, 2023, Prof. Androniki Naska gave a lecture on “Health impacts and recent progress on the Mediterranean Diet” to faculty and students of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in the context of the Human Nutrition seminar series. The lecture was followed by an open discussion, during which Prof. Naska shared her experience on the topic and answered relevant questions.

Humanitarian aid to the earthquake-affected populations in Turkey and Syria

Posted on: 21/02/2023

Responding to the NKUA’s call for humanitarian aid to the earthquake-affected populations of Turkey and Syria, faculty, staff and collaborators of the Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, NKUA Medical School, donated clothing, blankets, first aid and personal hygiene items. The humanitarian aid collection was organized and coordinated within the Department by Dr. Elena Riza and was delivered on Monday February 20th, 2023 to the designated collection point at the NKUA Zografou campus.

From left: A. Frantzi, E. Riza, S. Tripou, N. Dimitroulas, M. Nassi.

Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) Scholarship to a PhD candidate from the Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics

Posted on: 13/01/2023

Ms. Vasiliki Engeli received a scholarship by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the “4th Call for H.F.R.I. Scholarships to PhD Candidates”. According to the Final Ranking Table of Applications submitted in the Scientific Area SA. 3. “Life Sciences (Medicine and Health Sciences)”, listed by descending total score, the application was ranked 10th out of a total of 223 applications and was graded by the Evaluation Committee with 94/100 (Excellent).

The title of her PhD is “Mathematical models for the study of infectious diseases using social contact data”. The objective is to assess contacts patterns in the population of Greece before the pandemic as well as in periods with social distancing measures. In addition, she will develop age-structured mathematical models that take into account the age mixing of the population and can be used to assess the course of an epidemic and the impact of interventions (social distancing measures, testing-isolation of identified cases, vaccine, treatment). These models will be applied to assess the impact of measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece.

The supervisor of Ms. Engeli is Associate Professor Vana Sypsa.

WHO Collaborating Center for Nutrition and Health participated in the online training course on Noncommunicable Diseases coordinated by WHO European Office

Posted on: 01/12/2022

From left to right: Prof. V. Benetou and Prof. A Naska

The WHO Collaborating Center (CC) for Nutrition and Health at the Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, participated in the online training course «Training Course on Noncommunicable Diseases 2022– Surveillance, Implementation and Evaluation» coordinated by the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD Office). The course is developed for early and mid-career professionals in the field of NCDs, and consists of 15 modules implemented online from 6/10/22 until 2/3/2023. Instructors come from various WHO CCs and partner organizations around the world. Our Department was represented by Prof. V. Benetou and Prof. A. Naska, both deputy Directors of the WHO CC. Prof. Benetou participated in the Module «Breastfeeding and NCD risk later in life» and Prof. Naska in the module “Four by Four: Examining the main four risk factors for the most prevalent NCDs». This training program was developed with the aim to build networks for knowledge exchange and stronger collaborations between WHO CCs and it is planned to take place annually.

EFSA and the Dept. of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics join forces to manage and advance the methodology of the national Dietary Surveys in the EU

Posted on: 17/10/2022

From left to right: K. Niforou, E. Valanou, N. Koffas and Prof. A Naska

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), following a competitive procedure, assigned to the Dept. of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics (DEHEMS) the management of data collected through national dietary surveys in the EU Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (rf. The EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database), and the formulation of the new methodology to conduct and analyze nutrition surveys in EU MS. The task is coordinated by Prof. Androniki Naska with members of the team: Elissavet Valanou, nutritionist; Krystallia Niforou, nutritionist; and, Nikolaos Koffas, mathematician with expertise in data management. Efthimia Vassilopoulou, food technologist at DEHEMS will provide support on issues related to food composition tables.

Invited lecture of Assoc Prof. Evi Samoli at Yale University

Posted on: 10/10/2022

How to Communicate Data in a Pandemic

Posted on: 19/02/2021

REGISTRATION – HERE

Webinar “COVIC-19 Vaccines: Moving Forward”

Posted on: 19/02/2021

On 15th January 2021, a live broadcasted webinar on “COVIC-19 Vaccines:Moving Forward” was attended by a large audience of public health professionals and students. Faculty members of the Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, as members also of the Hellenic Forum of Public Health and Social Medicine, served in the organizing committee and contributed to the scientific program. Overall, 31 distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad participated in the webinar, with representatives from the World Health Organization,  the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Medicines Agency. You may watch the webinar at https://www.conferre.tv/covid19vaccine

Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (ELIDEK) Funding of project evaluated as class A by the European Research Council

Posted on: 13/11/2020

The research project entitled “Functionality and Activity of Human Endogenous Retrovirus K” which was granted an A score by the European Research Council (ERC) will be funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (ELIDEK) under the call for proposals “Aen Aristevein – Theodoros Papazoglou”. This call provides bridge-funding for project proposals graded “A” (highest score) by the ERC on account of their scientific merit, which were not funded due to budget limitations. Dr. Gkikas Magiorkinis, Assistant Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology, is the Primary Investigator of the project.

The study will last two years and will provide insights on the possible proliferation of HERV-K HML-2 in humans. Preliminary evidence suggests that HERV-K HML-2 may be the third human Retrovirus, after Human T-Lymphotropic Virus (HTLV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), with a proliferation potential in modern humans. The clinical implications of this work are relevant to securing the safety of advanced stem-cell treatments currently under development.

Lecture “The use of mathematics in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic”

Posted On: 13/07/2020

On Wednesday, July 15th 2020 (01:15 pm), Vana Sypsa (Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Medical Statistics, Dept. of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) will give a lecture on the topic “The use of mathematics in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic” in a seminar organised by the Department of Mathematics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The seminar will be held via Zoom (https://authgr.zoom.us/j/95428351931).