Maria Gazouli, PhD, is Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at the Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece. She was admitted as a PhD student at the Biology Department and Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and granted an honored Hellenic Pasteur Institute scholarship. She continued her postdoc training in the Cell Biology Department, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington D.C. USA. Dr. M. Gazouli's work refers mainly to molecular basis of diseases, mainly autoimmune diseases and cancer, to molecular detection of pathogens and investigation of the pathogenesis of the diseases they cause to humans. These activities have produced more than 250 publications in peer reviewed journals, 10,702 citations (h-index: 53), more than 150 announcements in scientific congresses that were awarded in 17 cases, 1 granted International Patent, and 3 European Patent Applications. Recently Dr. Gazouli was involved in the incorporation of nanotechnology to targeted cancer detection, imaging and drug delivery. She was honored with a Fulbright Scholarship for the Development of Nanotechnology-based Biosensor Arrays for the Detection of Circulating Colorectal Cancer Cells at University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. The research has been recognized by distinguished awards and funded by national and international (EU) competitive research grants. Maria Gazouli has been actively involved in undergraduate and post graduate training, as well as the ERASMUS program, and her laboratory has trained a significant number of young scientists. George Theodoropoulos graduated Athens Medical School in 1992. His PhD research was in Gastrointestinal Malignancies Tumor Markers. He completed a 6-year residency program in General Surgery and a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery in USA. He currently holds an academic post as an Associate Professor of Surgery at Athens Medical School, Athens,Greece. He is a Diplomat and a Fellow (FACS) of the American Board of Surgery and of the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery (FASCRS). He completed a 6-month research fellowship in the Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL, USA. He has set up and coordinated a clinic of Health-Related Quality of Life surveillance of colorectal cancer patients, has been supervising the Colorectal Unit of the Athens Medical School First Department of Propaedeutic Surgery and has established a multidisciplinary "Lower Digestive Tract Study Unit" in the hospital he is currently practicing. He applies a variety of minimally invasive techniques and is skilled at laparoscopic colorectal procedures for cancer and inflammatory bowel diseases, as well as management of common and complex anorectal pathologies. He is the author/co-author of 130 internationally cited peer-reviewed journals publications (5,500 citations, h-index: 37). Amongst other societies, he is a member ofthe European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) Research Committee and the International Committee of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, while representing Greece as one of the Committee members of a European COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) research platform on peri-operative care of cancer patients.
