Profile

• Graduate of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA,1982) 
• Pediatric residency training: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ (American Board Certified in Pediatrics 1989)
• Fellowship training in Pediatric Infectious Diseases (1988-1990):
  • Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey
  • Βabies Hospital, Columbia University Medical Centre, New York
• Professor of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, NKUA since 2014 

Live attenuated varicella vaccine: evidence that the virus is attenuated and the importance of skin lesions in transmission of varicella-zoster virus (NKUA, 1992)

• Attending physician at the Second   Dept of Pediatrics, NKUA, School of Medicine, “P. and A. Kyriakou” Children’s Hospital (1990-2001)       
• Lecturer (2001), Assistant Professor (2006), Associate Professor (2009), Professor of Pediatrics and infectious Diseases of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) (2014)
• Chair of the Department, Second Dept of Pediatrics, NKUA,  P. and A. Kyriakou Children’s Hospital (2013 -2026)

• General Pediatrics – Adolescent Medicine – Child safety
• Vaccines and Immunizations  
• Viral respiratory infections – Servere bacterial infections 
• Multi-drug resistant infections
• Tuberculosis
• Antibiotic stewardship
• Infection control

• Prizes and funding from the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseasess (ESPID)
  • ESPID Small Grant Awards 2010, 2012, 2017
  • ESPID Fellowship Award 2010
• Prix Galien Greece 2021. For the service offered as a member of the  National Expert Committee for the Management of Infectious Public Health Threats
• Allergy College Prize for the service offered during the pandemic (2023)
• Bill Marshall Award 2023 - Annual prize administered by the Society to distinguished members

A multi-platform approach to identify a blood-based host protein signature for distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections in febrile children (PERFORM): a multi-cohort machine learning study. Jackson HR, Zandstra J, Stephanie Menikou S, Melissa Shea Hamilton MS,  McArdle AJ, Fischer R, Thorne AM, Huang H, Tanck MT, Jansen MH, Tisham De, Agyeman, PKA Von Both U, Carrol ED, Emonts M, Eleftheriou I, Van der Flier M, Fink C, Gloerich J, De Groot R, Moll HA, Pokorn M, Pollard AJ, Schlapbach,  Tsolia M,  Usuf E,  Wright, VJ Yeung S, Zavadska D, Zenz W, Coin LJM, Casals-Pascual C, Cunnington AJ, Martinon-Torres F, Herberg JA, de Jonge M, Levin M,  Kuijpers TW, Kaforou M, on behalf of the PERFORM consortium Lancet Dig Health   2023 Nov;5(11):e774-e785.

Relationship between molecular pathogen detection and clinical disease in febrile children across Europe: a multicentre, prospective observational study. Shah P, Voice M, Calvo-Bado L, Rivero-Calle I, Morris S, Nijman R, Broderick C, De T, Eleftheriou I, Galassini R, Khanijau A, Kolberg L, Kolnik M, Rudzate A, Sagmeister MG, Schweintzger NA, Secka F, Thakker C, van der Velden F, Vermont C, Vincek K, Agyeman PKA, Cunnington AJ, De Groot R, Emonts M, Fidler K, KuijpersTW, Mommert-Tripon M, Brengel-Pesce K, Mallet F, Moll H, Paulus S, Pokorn M, Pollard A, Schlapbach LJ, Shen CF, Tsolia M , Usuf E, van der Flier M, von Both U, Yeung S, Zavadska D, Zenz W, Wright V, Carrol ED, Kaforou M, Martinon-Torres F, Fink C, Levin M, Herberg J; PERFORM consortium. Relationship between molecular pathogen detection and clinical disease in febrile children across Europe: a multicentre, prospective observational study. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2023 ;32:100682. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.10068

A multicenter study on the epidemiology of complicated parapneumonic effusion in the era of currently available pneumococcal conjugate vaccines Papachristidou S, Lapea V, Charisi M, Kourkouni E, Kousi D, Xirogianni A, Dedousi O, Papaconstadopoulos I, Eleftheriou E, Krepis P, Pasparaki S, Pantalos, G, Doudoulakakis A, Bozavoutoglou E, Daskalaki M, Kostaridou-Nikolopoulou S, Tzanakaki G, Spoulou V , Tsolia M . . Vaccine. 2023 ;41(45):6727-6733.

 

Raising AWaRe-ness of antimicrobial stewardship challenges in pediatric emergency care: results from the PERFORM study assessing consistency and appropriateness oF antibiotic prescribing across Europe.   Kolberg L, Khanijau A, van der Velden FJS, Herberg J, De T, Galassini R,Cunnington AJ, Wright V, Shah P, Kaforou M, Wilson C, Kuijpers T, Martinón-Torres F, Rivero-Calle I, Moll H, Vermont C, Pokorn M, Kolnik M, Pollard AJ,Agyeman PKA, Schlapbach LJ, Tsolia MN, Yeung S, Zavadska D, Zenz W, SchweintzgerNA, van der Flier M, de Groot R, Usuf E, Voice M, Calvo-Bado L, Mallet F, FidlerK, Levin M, Carrol ED, Emonts M, von Both U; PERFORM Consortium. Clin Infect Dis. 2023 . doi:0.1093/cid/ciad615.

 

Novel RNA Biomarkers Improve Discrimination of Children with Tuberculosis Disease from Those with non-TB Pneumonia after In-Vitro Stimulation. Vito O, Psarras S, Sy g gelou A , Wright VA, Amanatidou V,  Newton SM, Shailes S, Trochoutsou K, Tsagaraki M, Michael Levin , Kaforou M, Tsolia M. Front Immunol 2024:15:1401647. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1401647

 

Clesrovimab in Infants and Children at Increased Risk for Severe RSV Disease Zar HJ,Bont LJ, Manzoni P, Munoz FM, Ramilo O, Chen PY, Novoa JM, Ordonez GA, Tsolia M, Tapiero B, Acuna Avillla MI, Castellanos JM, Meyer M, Morioka I, Chen Z, Railkar RA, Zang X, Maas BM, Likos A, Lee AW, Castagnini LA, Sinha A, SMART (MK-1654-007) Study Group N Engl J Med 2025;393(13):1343-1345

• European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases, ESPID). Board member (2001-2004) and general Secretary (two terms, 2007-2009, 2010-2012)
• Founding member, Board member, Secretary (2019-2021) and President (2022- 2024) of the Hellenic Society for Pediatric Infectious Disease (HELESPID). Currently, Board member. 
• European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infections (ESCMID)
• Paediatric Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (PTBNET) of the European Respiratory Society (founding member)
• Member of the Board for the certification in Pediatrics (2014-2016, 2018-2020, 2023-2026). Member of the Board for the certification in the subspecialty of Infectious Diseases (2015- 2021, 2023-2026)
• National Committee for Immunization Prectices (since 2014)
• National Expert Committee for the Management of Infectious Public Health Threats 

• Varicella-zoster virus vaccine (Thesis)  
• Bacterial infections caused by Haemophilus influenzae  type b (Hib), pneumococcus, meningococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, group A Streptococcus (GAS), group B Streptococcus (GAS): epidemiology, molecular epidemiology, clinical spectrum, molecular diagnosis and prevention 
• Viral respiratory infections (influenza, RSV, rhinovirus, metapneumovirus): epidemiology, short and long-term effects, correlation with the development of recurrent wheezing, prevention
• Epidemiology and clinical manifestations SARS-CoV-2 infection
• Pediatric tuberculosis
• The use of genomics and proteomics for the differentiation between viral infection, bacterial infection and inflammatory disease in children with fever. Member of the PERFORM and DIAMONDS consortia –Horizon 2020 programs supported by the EU.