Skalkeas Gregory

Clinical Medicine - Surgical Specialties    (1989)

Professor Skalkeas was born in Aeropolis of Lakonia in 1928. He studied at the University of Athens where he specialized in General Surgery. He went on to study Cardiac Surgery in Great Britain as well as the U.S.A. for 5 years.
In 1964 he was elected lecturer and later Associate Professor at the University of Athens. In February 1967, he was elected Full Professor of Surgery. He has also served as Professor of Forensic Medicine, Anatomy and Urology for a short period of time.
In the decade of 1960, he founded and directed the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Athens. It was in this Department that he, together with his colleagues performed among the first Congenital Heart Disease and Valve Replacement Surgeries and Aorta Coronary Bypass in Greece. After his election as Full Professor of Surgery and Director of the Second Surgery Department, he founded the first Greek Experimental and Surgical Research Center  and the first Transplant Center in Greece. He, along with a few of his esteemed colleagues, performed the first Kidney Transplant in Athens as well as the first Combination Kidney and Pancreas Transplant in Greece.
In the laboratory of Experimental Surgery, 197 Ph.D Theses and 35 Theses for Associate Professors were completed. During his 28 years as Professor and Chairman in the Second Surgical Clinic he trained a large number of surgeons, 21 of which have been elected Full Professors at Universities throughout Greece and others hold academic and director posts at Cardiac and General Surgery Centers.
Professor Skalkeas has been a member of 74 Scientific Societies and Colleges in Greece and abroad. He served as President of the Medical Society of Athens and the Hellenic Surgical Society. He was elected as Societaire Etranger de l' Academie de Chirurgie de Paris (France), member in the New York Academy Science, full member of Academia Europea and Clinical Professor in the Ohio State University of the U.S.A.
He was also awarded with the medal of Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur from the French Republic as well as with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix from the Greek Republic.
He has been awarded the title of Friend of the Democretius University of Thrace of which he is also an honorary Doctor of the School of Medicine.
He has also been appointed as Honorary Professor of the University of Peloponnese,
He was a senior member of the Greek-French Association and has founded the Greek Section of the European Club de la Sante. Professor Skalkeas has also founded many Scientific Societies in Greece as the Greek Section of the Collegium Internationalae Clinoungae Digestivae.
He has also served as Dean in the Medical School and Senator in the University of Athens. In 1989 he was elected as an ordinary member of the Academy of Athens and during 2003 he held the position of the President of the Academy. He has also served twice as President of the Sciences  Sector of the Academy of Athens.
Professor Skalkeas has been nominated Grand Commander of the Order of Phoenix,  Archon Great Referendarius of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Grand Commander of the Order of Orthodox Crusaders of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Honorary Citizen of Atlanta, Georgia, USA and Kalamata, Greece. He has also been awarded with many medals. 
He has written four scientific books and has published a large number of scientific studies in prominently international as well as Greek journals.
Professor Skalkeas was the founder of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. The Foundation, a 28.000 m2 campus, is located in a green area, hosts seven research centers and it is equipped with a rich variety of state-of-the-art scientific equipment, ideal for conducting internationally competitive biomedical research, both basic and clinical. Professor Skalkeas has been the President of the Board of Trustees since 1991.