Prof. Panayotis Soucacos is professor of orthopaedic surgery, The Panayotis N. Soucacos Orthopaedic Research and Education Center, Attikon University Hospital, University of Athens, Greece, School of Medicine. He obtained his medical degree in 1965 from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he also completed his orthopaedic residency. He then came to the U.S. in 1971, where he spent five years as a clinical and research fellow in the department of orthopaedic surgery at Duke University, Durham, NC. In 1975, he returned to Greece as an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Athens. He ascended in the academic ranks in Greece from 1980 to 2002 and was named professor and chair of the orthopaedic department of surgery at the University of Ioannina. He returned to the University of Athens in 2002 to assume a similar position as professor and chair of orthopaedic surgery until 2009. From 2012 to 2017, he served as president of the board of trustees at the University of Ioannina.
He is an internationally recognized contributor to the orthopaedic surgery specialty. Academically, he has published more than 400 scientific articles in the Greek and international literature. He edited 11 orthopaedic textbooks and published three history books dealing with European history, mainly old Hellenic maps and the expeditions of Alexander the Great. He also published 55 chapters and served as guest editor of 25 special editions of referred journals in the U.S. and internationally. He served on the editorial boards of 15 European and American journals and has received approximately 40 awards and recognitions and completed 22 visiting professorships in the U.S. and abroad. Professor Soucacos is a member of 28 medical and surgical organizations, including our College, and is an honorary member of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Bulgarian Orthopaedic and Traumatology Association, and the Serbian Society for Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology. He also served as president of four Greek surgical organizations.
His extensive and most impressive list of invited national and international presentations, membership on editorial boards, book chapters, visiting professorships, and guest editorships is indicative of his stature in the international orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery community. In summary, he has been a “bridge builder” between Europe and the U.S. in the fields of orthopaedics, hand surgery, and reconstructive microsurgery.
