Director
Dr Christos Lionis, MD, PhD, FRCGP:
Name: Christos Lionis, MD, PhD, FRCGP (Hon) Professor of
General Practice and Primary Health Care
Contact details: Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Crete, Voutes, Heraklion
PO Box 2208 71003 Crete, Greece
Telephone: +30 2810 394621
Fax: +30 2810 394606
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Linkedin: http://gr.linkedin.com/pub/christos-lionis/15/242/4a8
Brief Curriculum Vitae:
Qualifications
Christos Lionis graduated from the University of Athens Medical School in 1979. He also holds a PhD from the University of Crete entitled: ‘An educational intervention in junior high school students for the prevention of coronary heart disease’.
Experience
Since 1995 Christos Lionis has worked at the University of Crete Medical School, where he is Professor and Director of the Clinic of Social and Family Medicine. With a passion for the importance and the value of Family Medicine, Christos is actively involved in the development of Primary Care and General Practice in Greece. He currently co-ordinates a thriving GP research network on rural Crete, and is also responsible for the supervision of a number of PhD students.
Previous to his employment at the University of Crete, Christos worked for 9 years as Manager and Medical Director of Spili Health Centre, obtaining experience as a clinician and researcher in the field of Primary Health Care and General Practice.
From 2001 to 2004 Christos held the title of Deputy General Director of the Regional Health and Welfare system of Crete, a planning and regulatory body forming part of the Greek National Health Service with responsibility for overseeing all health and welfare services. He was elected as Professor of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the School of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece at the end of 2009.
Since 2009, Christos has co-ordinated the Primary Health Care Unit at the Municipality of Heraklion, a shared initiative with the University Hospital and the Municipality of Heraklion. This facility offers medical care and assistance to socio economic deprived individuals, with a specific focus on chronic disorders. Christos is also the current Director of a Master in General Practice and Primary Care at the School of Medicine, University of Crete.
Research interests
The Clinic of Social and Family Medicine undertakes a number of experimental studies and research projects, with a particular emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches to health care, and consideration of social and psychological factors affecting health. Christos’ key research activities and interest focus on:
- primary health care and family medicine
- quality management, and the formulation of guidelines for management of
- common disease and chronic conditions
- factors contributing to cardiovascular disease
- gastroenterology
- mental health
- compassionate healthcare
His additional fields of expertise comprise of:
- needs assessment
- morbidity in general practice
- diagnostic studies and probability
- health care research methodology
- quality in primary care
Christos and his research team at the University of Crete are also involved in four FP7 European funded projects (one as coordinator) which are currently in progress, and consist of the following: ‘OTC SOCIOMED’ - ‘Assessing The Over-The-Counter Medications in Primary Care and Translating The Theory of Planned Behaviour into Interventions’; ‘RESTORE’ - ‘Better understanding of dissemination and implementation strategies’; ‘TRANSFORM’ – ‘Translational Medicine and Patient Safety in Europe’; and ‘EU-WISE’ – ‘Self-care Support for People with Long Term Conditions, Diabetes and Heart Disease: A Whole System Approach’.
Editorial and International Work
Christos is involved in an editorial and advisory capacity with a number of international journals, including: International Journal of Rural and Remote Health (Editor in Chief of European Section), Family Practice (Associate Editor); BMC Family Medicine (Section Editor); Quality in Primary Care and International Journal of Mental Health in Family Medicine (Editorial Board); Global Journal of Health Science (Editorial Board); Primary Health Care (Editorial Board); The Open Access Journal of Science and Technology (Editorial Board); Global Journal of Medicine and Public Health (Editorial Board); Diseases (Editorial Board); the International Journal of Medicine (Editorial Board); Open Access Publishing London (Advisory Board); Cyprus Health Journal (Advisory Board) and Turkiye Klinikleri Journals (Advisory Board) and many other journals as members of the Editorial Board. Christos has also been recently appointed as co-editor in chief of the Journal of Compassionate Care, an independent Journal affiliated with the BMC Series.
Christos is a member of the Executive Boards of various professional organisations including: the European Society for Primary Care Gastroenterology (ESPCG); the European Primary Care Cardiology Society (EPCCS); WONCA Working Party on Research; WONCA Working Party on Mental Health, and the European Rural and Isolated Practitioners Association (EURIPA) where he is acting as chairman of the International Advisory Board. Christos is also the current chairman of the International Federation of Practice based Research Network (IFPCRN). He was elected to the Executive Board of the European Society of General Practice/Family Medicine (WONCA) Europe in 2003 and vice chairman of the European General Practice Research Network in 2004.
Christos has collaborated with, and developed valuable affiliations via collaborative European/research projects with institutions and Medical Universities in the UK, (Kings College London, University of Glasgow, University of Liverpool, University of Manchester and Guys and St Thomas Hospital), in the Netherlands (Radbound University Nijmegen and Leiden University) as well as various other Universities and Networks in European countries including France, Cyprus, Malta, Austria and the Czech Republic. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) London, in May 2009. In addition, he regularly collaborates with various other countries including Sweden (where he spent 6 months at the Health Sciences School, Linköping University as a guest professor and researcher) and Turkey in the framework of Erasmus staff and students exchange programmes.
Publications
Christos has published a number of papers in international and Greek journals.