A Glimpse into the Inaugural "Genomic Medicine Course in Nafplio"
This past April, CHS Greece and the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) co-organized an academic program that brought together some of the most distinguished minds in genomic medicine and classical scholarship. Τhe Genomic Medicine Course in Nafplio was held at the CHS Greece facilities in Nafplio from April 23 to 25, 2026, and it was a landmark transatlantic achievement connecting in a single program students and faculty from the medical schools of Harvard and NKUA.
The course was conceived and led by Professor Despina Sanoudou, Full Professor in Pharmacogenomics and Cardiovascular Biology at NKUA Medical School, Head of the Clinical Genomics and Pharmacogenomics Unit as well as the Genetic Counseling Clinic at "Attikon" Hospital, former faculty member at Harvard Medical School, and current CHS Associate in Interdisciplinary Initiatives.
The faculty assembled was nothing short of exceptional:
- Professor Sotirios Tsiodras (Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at NKUA, Harvard-trained, international expert, President of the Infectious Diseases Society of Greece, and author of more than 400 peer-reviewed papers) lectured on genomic medicine and clinical trials.
- Professor Aristides Eliopoulos (Professor of Biology and Genetics and Head of the Department of Biology at NKUA, whose research on cancer biology, inflammation, and signal transduction has garnered over 28,500 citations with an h-index of 64) led sessions on genomic bioethics through real-world case studies.
- Dr. Jonathan Picker (Assistant Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Fragile X Program as well as the Pharmacogenomic Service at Boston Children's Hospital, a clinical geneticist and specialist in genomic testing and rare neurodevelopmental disorders) lectured on the clinical applications of genomic testing.
- Professor Isaac (Zak) Kohane (inaugural Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School, co-author of the Institute of Medicine Report on Precision Medicine, Editor-in-Chief of NEJM AI, and author of The AI Revolution in Medicine: GPT-4 and Beyond) presented on artificial intelligence in genomic medicine.
- Dr. Roger Hajjar (Harvard Medical School graduate and Head of the Gene and Cell Therapy Institute at Mass General Brigham, an internationally renowned pioneer in cardiac gene therapy whose discoveries have driven multiple first-in-human clinical trials and whose methodologies are utilized by researchers worldwide) delivered a lecture on the gene therapy revolution.
- Dr. Athina Bazou (Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Philology at NKUA, affiliated with CHS Greece, and a leading specialist in Ancient Greek Medicine and Medical Texts, Ancient Greek Science, and the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle) brought the medical traditions of antiquity to life in a dedicated lecture on Precision Medicine in Ancient Greece.
- And in a lecture that perfectly captured the intellectual soul of CHS Greece, Professor Mark Schiefsky (C. Lois P. Grove Professor of the Classics at Harvard, Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies, and a distinguished historian of philosophy and science in the ancient world, whose scholarship spans Hippocratic medicine and Greco-Roman scientific thought) invited participants to reflect on whether the wisdom of Ancient Greek philosophy might serve as a compass in the era of genomic medicine.
Fourteen outstanding, scholarship-awarded medical students participated: six from the Greek-language track and six from the English-language track of the NKUA Medical School "Precision Medicine" elective, and two from the Harvard Medical School. Their engagement began approximately six weeks before the course, when students came together in interdisciplinary teams and embarked on collaborative research projects addressing cutting-edge genomic medicine topics. By the time they arrived in Nafplio, they had already built strong scientific bonds and a shared research momentum.
Over three intensive days, participants deepened their expertise across a curriculum spanning clinical genomics, pharmacogenomics, the gene therapy revolution, AI-driven diagnostics, precision medicine in clinical trials, bioethics, and the enduring medical wisdom of ancient Greece. During at CHS Greece, they had dedicated access to Harvard University's Digital Library and world-renowned resources. On the final morning, each team delivered formal oral presentations of their research — honing skills in scientific manuscript writing and scholarly communication that will serve them throughout their careers. Several students also chose to participate in a public event on genetic testing and counseling, organized by CHS Greece and NKUA Medical School, which was held in the framework of the Genomic Medicine Course in Nafplio, bringing genomic medicine directly to the people of Nafplio.
Student feedback was resoundingly enthusiastic. Indicatively, one participant captured the spirit of the experience, simply and powerfully: "This course was a life-changing experience."
CHS Greece is proud to have co-organized and hosted this inaugural edition, providing the institutional home, intellectual setting, and scholarly resources that made it possible.
For additional photographs, see the links below on CHS Greece's social media accounts: