Panos Englezos Prize 2018
The ”Panos Englezos Prize 2018” was presented to Prof Christos Kattamis, during the 4th Graduation Ceremony of the University of Nicosia Medical School that took place on May 4, 2018.
Christos Kattamis, an Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics in the University of Athens and Head of Thalassaemia Unit, ‘Agia Sofia’ Children’s Hospital’, Greece, is a pioneer in the field of thalassaemia, an innovator, a researcher, and an educator who has promoted knowledge and clinical progress for over half a century.[/box]He is one of an elite group of Greek haematologists who have gained international recognition in the field of thalassaemia and other hereditary anaemias. Back in the 1960s, when thalassaemia was a lethal disease of childhood, Prof Kattamis has been a contributor in every area, from diagnosis (for example, he was the first to describe the one step osmotic fragility test for carriers, a test still used today in many countries for screening), to the pathophysiology, the complications and also in the areas of growth and endocrinology.
Professor Kattamis gained his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Athens in 1958 and earned his specialty in Paediatrics in 1964. In 1966 he joined the WHO research exchange programme at the Universities of Cambridge, UK and Leiden, The Netherlands. In 1967 and 1972 he was a visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge. In 1988 he was appointed Professor and Director of the Department of Maternal and Child Health at Athens University, and since 1999 he is an Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics at the same University.
He is the President of the Greek Society of Paediatric Haematology, Past President of the Greek Paediatric Society, former Vice President of UNESPA (Union of National Paediatric Societies and Associations), an active member of the MAGAM (Mediterranean Action Group for Adolescent Medicine) group and the I-CETA, a group which studies the endocrinological aspect of thalassaemia and adolescence.
Professor Kattamis’ rich contribution to medical science, paediatrics and paediatric haematology in particular, has led to the present situation where the once fatal children disease has become a chronic one in which life’s ambitions can be fulfilled well into senior citizenship.
