Dimitrios A. Spantidos – Professor of Molecular Virology/Clinical Chemistry/Genetics, Author
Dimitrios A. Spantidos was born in 1947 in the mountainous village of Agios Konstantinos in Laconia and finished high school in Tripoli. He is a graduate of the Chemistry Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a Doctorate (PhD) in Biochemistry from the McGill University of Montreal, Canada, as well as a Member (MRCPath) and Fellow (FRCPath) of the Royal College of Pathologists of Great Britain in the speciality of Virology. He specialises in Clinical Chemistry in Greece and has a PhD (Dsc) from the University of Glasgow in Genetics. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Health (FRSH) of Great Britain, the International Society of Hematology and the American Society of Angiology.
Dimitrios Spantidos is the editor of the Current Perspectives on Molecular and Cellular Oncology series (JAI Press, London) and a member of the editorial board of more than 15 international journals. He has organised 58 International Conferences in Greece, in Molecular Medicine, with a particular emphasis on Oncology. He has also given speeches at Universities, Research Centres and International Conferences all over the world, while in Greece, he has worked at the Theagenio Cancer Institute of Thessaloniki (1970-1971) at the Hellenic Cancer Institute (1978-1979) at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute (1985- 1987) as well as Director of Research at the National Research Foundation (1988-1998).
He has more than 850 publications in English in 200 prestigious international journals and 50 magazines in Greek journals. He has participated in more than 1,000 announcements and speeches at International Conferences, while he has written five university books related to Virology and Molecular Oncology.
The professor's most important research led to the discovery of oncogenes, the study of which has contributed to the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of cancer. In 2018, he founded the "World Academy of Sciences" centred in Greece, which includes distinguished scientists worldwide, many of whom are Nobel Prize winners.
Dimitrios Spantidos is also well-known in the area of the history and culture of the place. Specifically, a few kilometres outside his birthplace, Agios Konstantinos (Regozena) village is his privately owned cultural multi-purpose area, covering an area of 5 acres. In the space, visitors can see the amphitheatre, with a capacity of 500 seats, where theatrical performances and concerts are hosted, and the chapel of Agios (Saint) Hyacinthos. Dimitrios Spantidos has also brought back the institutions of the "Hyacinthia" (in honour of Hyacinthos and Apollo) and the "Eleneia" (in honour of the Beautiful Helen). In addition, he established the "Penelopean Road" (in honour of Penelope and Odysseus), the first road race in world history held in Pellana of Homeric Lacedaemona 3200 years ago.