Professor George Chrousos

Hellenic American University is honored to welcome Professor George Chrousos, member of the Academy of Athens and professor of endocrinology, to its Athens campus on May 23, 2024, to deliver the second lecture in the University’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Professor Chrousos will speak on Stress Control for a Healthy and Happy Life. The event is organized by Hellenic American University/Hellenic American College and Hellenic American Union.

The Distinguished Lecture Series brings to the Athens campus leading thinkers, researchers, and public figures from a broad spectrum of disciplines to share their insights and perspectives on their work but also on issues of broader social importance. The series aims to enrich the student learning experience and spark debate within and beyond the university community on timely issues of social and cultural importance. In addition, an important strand in the series will feature young scholars who have made significant contributions to their profession but may not yet have gained the attention of the broader public.

Prof. Chrousos has provided us with the following abstract of his talk:

In our days, stress seems to be expanding as an epidemic, with a growing prevalence and many adverse and mostly chronic consequences. The biological changes occurring in our organism in the event of chronic stress lead to mental, psychosomatic, and physical illnesses, the so-called chronic noncommunicable diseases, such as anxiety, depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, dyslipidemias, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune and allergic diseases, subfertility, and cancer, responsible for the largest part of morbidity and mortality today. Apart from all these, stress increases susceptibility to certain infections, as is nowadays the case with the COVID-19 disease and the flu, as well as to some common cancer types, such as colon and breast cancer. Stress plays a vital pathogenetic role when it comes to autoimmune and allergic diseases as well, especially in its recession period, when naturally for some weeks or months, the stress system is deactivated up to an extent, causing the activation of the immune system and an inflammatory reaction. Stress can be prevented both primarily and secondarily and is cured via methods based on indisputable data that have been published in the past years. Chronic stress control is the foundation of a healthy and happy life.

Brief speaker bio:

Mr. Chrousos, Distinguished Professor at Hellenic American University and scientific director of its Master of Science in Stress and Health Management program was born in 1951 in Patras. He was an honors scholarship recipient of the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece during his studies at the NKUA School of Medicine and graduated first in his class (1975). He received further training at the NKUA Internal Medicine Clinic (1975-1976), at the New York University Department of Pediatrics (1976-1978), and at the National Institutes of Health (ΝΙΗ) in the US (1978-1981) in endocrinology, metabolism, and diabetes. He conducted his doctoral thesis at the NKUA Lab of Microbiology (under the direction of Prof Ι. Papavasileiou, 1975-77). Since 1981 he has undertaken major roles at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development -NICHD (National Institutes of Health - NIH), such as Director of the ACGME-accredited fellowship training program in Pediatric Endocrinology, as well as Chief of the Pediatric and Reproductive Endocrinology Branch, from 1999 to 2001. In 2001, he assumed the role of the Director of the 1st University Department of Pediatrics and got in charge of the Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes unit of the NKUA. Since 2018, he is Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology Emeritus, while since 2010, he holds the UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care at the NKUA. In 1985, Mr. Chrousos was elected Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, while in 1990 unwaged Physiology and Biophysics Professor at the University of Georgetown, Washington DC, USA. Since 2017, he has served as Director of the University Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine of the NKUA School of Medicine, while since the founding of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens he has been a collaborating researcher and director of its Laboratory of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

In February 2024 Mr. Chrousos was elected full member of the Academy of Athens.

Useful Information

 Venue Hellenic American College
Auditorium, 2nd floor
22 Massalias Street, Athens
 Date & Time May 23, 2024, 19:00 (Athens time) 
 Language Greek 
 RSVP Required through the official registration form
 Admission Free of charge 

The event will be also delivered online through Zoom.

Reservation is required whether you participate onsite or online.