Vassilis Koutkias
Dr. Vassilis G. Koutkias, Principal Researcher at the Institute of Applied Biosciences, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (INAB | CERTH), Thessaloniki, Greece, passed away on December 14, 2019, at the age of 44 after a long battle with cancer.
Vassilis was born on May 20, 1975, in Lamia (Greece). In 1998, he graduated from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th) and started his career as a software developer in the Information Processing Lab, Faculty of Engineering A.U.Th. In 2005 he obtained a Ph.D. in Medical Informatics (A.U.Th). He was awarded a Marie Curie fellowship for research at the LIMICS Lab (INSERM U 1142) in Paris, France, in 2014 where he pursued his own line of scientific research in drug safety and pharmacovigilance. In 2016, he became Researcher at INAB | CERTH where he headed the eHealth Lab.
Vassilis has been the Principal Investigator of 7 European Projects between 2017 and 2019. He was the deputy scientific person responsible for CERTH | INAB for four European Projects (between 2016 and 2019) and involved in 14 European Projects between 1999 and 2016, which demonstrates his extraordinary ability to work in various consortia, on various scientific ICT themes, and a remarkable intellectual agility. As the result of this sustained research activity, he was editor of 4 books and author of 47 papers in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, he wrote peer-reviewed papers in books and book series and peer-reviewed papers in International Conferences amounting to a total of 100 original papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.
Through his work, Vassilis greatly contributed to the field of Medical Informatics. He was a man of integrity, nobility and intelligence who inspired all those who worked with him. He is and will be sadly missed by all.
Vassilis is survived by his wife Andigoni and their two daughters, 9 and 7 years old. Our thoughts are with his family in this time of grief.