Former public health chief to lead Athens’ Columbia Global Center
The Columbia Global Center in Athens, an initiative launched by the respected American university in Greece in November 2022, will be headed by Dr. Theoklis Zaoutis, a physician and researcher and most recently the president of Greece’s National Public Health Organization (EODY).
Recently made an adjunct professor of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Zaoutis is also a tenured professor of pediatrics at the Athens School of Medicine and a former professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Theo has vast experience in academia and as a public health leader in some of the world’s most respected institutions in the US and Greece,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, executive vice president for Columbia Global. “He is well positioned to build partnerships with key stakeholders in the country and to advance collaborations between Columbia and Greece.”
“The Global Centers provide Columbia with an unparalleled opportunity to work with academics and practitioners around the world,” said Columbia University President Minouche Shafik. “The Center in Athens will enable learning from and contributing to the vibrant innovation, academic and cultural life of the country.”
Zaoutis led efforts to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and the refugee crisis in Greece as well as to modernize EODY and make it a member of the International Association of Public Health Institutes. In 2011, he founded an NGO, the Collaborative Center for Clinical Epidemiology in Greece, which has been shortlisted for the European Commission’s EU Health award.
“I am thrilled to take on this role as Columbia makes a commitment to strengthening ties with Greece and the region,” Zaoutis said. “Sitting at geo-political, cultural and geographic crossroads between the West and East, Greece is an exciting touchpoint for the university – the possibilities for collaboration and learning are endless.”
The Athens Center is one of 11 Global Centers Columbia established in cities around the world including Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi, Paris, Rio, Santiago, Tel Aviv and Tunis. Columbia University launched the Athens Center in November 2022 to engage faculty, students and in-country partners on priority issues related to climate change; migration and international affairs; business and innovation; classics and ancient studies; arts and culture; global health and preparedness; and medicine, among others.
