Biosketch
Short Biosketch
Dr. Agorastos is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Senior Physician in the II. University Dept. of Psychiatry at the Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as International Partner of the VA Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health (CESAMH) at the University of California, San Diego (USCD), La Jolla, USA.
He previously served as Assoc. Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Hamburg, Head of the Outpatient Psychiatric Services of the University Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Hamburg, and Team Leader of the Psychoneuroimmunology and Psychoneurophysiology Research Group of the Laboratory of Biological Psychiatry in the Hamburg University Medical Center. He received his MD at the Medical University of Vienna, completed his doctorate, clinical and psychotherapeutic training (Board Approval for CBT) and professorial thesis at the University of Hamburg, his MSc in Affective Neuroscience at the Universities of Maastricht and Florence and his Postdoc Fellowship at the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research group of the CESAMH at USCD. He was recently awarded a second PhD by the University of Maastricht, NL.
Fields of clinical expertise include stress- and trauma-related disorders, anxiety disorders, OCD and treatment-resistant/post-partum depression, while his current research focus centers in the neurobiology of stress and stress-related disorders with particular emphasis on psychoneuroendocrinology, -immunology and -physiology of stress, PTSD and depression and their neuropsychological correlates, as well as on the circadian system and chronodisruption as vital components of neuropsychiatric disease development. He has participated in EU twinning projects on public health policies and has experience in large-scale cross-sectional surveys, as well as questionnaire development and validation. Dr. Agorastos holds a central role in the International COH-FIT Survey (one of the largest international projects assessing mental health during the covid-19 pandemic) as one of the Greek Νational Project Directors and Member of the International Steering Committee.
Dr. Agorastos has received a large number of international scholarships (e.g, by European Psychiatric Association, International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, American Psychosomatic Society, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry, King’s College, University of Hamburg), research grants (Werner-Otto Foundation, Bial Foundation, University of Hamburg), awards (European Psychiatric Association, International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, University of Hamburg), honors and certifications (e.g., by European Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, University of Maastricht, European Association for Psychotherapy), is active member of >10 international, European and national professional societies, has served as ad hoc reviewer in >30 international scientific journals and associate editor and editorial board member in several international scientific Journals. Since 2009, he has published 74 PubMed listed articles in high-rank international journals (e.g., Mol Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, Am J Psychiatry, Biol Psychiatry, Psychoneuroendocrinology, J Psychiatr Res, Psychiatry Res, Front Psychiatry, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Neuropsychopharmacology, Front Immunol, Psychol Med, etc., 45 of them as first/last author) with a total impact factor of 320.45 and over 3,000 citations and holds an h-index of 29 and an i10-index of 50. According to Expertscape (2020), Dr. Agorastos has been listed as Expert among the top 1% cited scientists of the world in all four categories of his research focus: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Autonomic Nervous System, Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis and Circadian Rhythms.
Since 2017, Dr. Agorastos also serves as licensed Psychiatrist-Psychotherapist in his private practice in Thessaloniki, Greece.