LIFECLINIC - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• DFFP / Medical Director Life Clinic
• Founder and Clinical Director at LIFE CLINIC Athens
• Specialist

Dr. Dimitri Papanikolaou, founder and clinical director at LIFE CLINIC Athens since 2007, graduated in Medicine from the University of Athens where he specialised in gynaecology and surgery in several hospitals. He then moved to the UK and completed his training and practice in NHS University Hospitals for 4 years. His collaborations, after the completion of the NHS practice period, include three years in London's Harley Street private medical sector as a fertility specialist at the well-known London Fertility Centre (LFC) and ARGC fertility clinics. More specifically, Dr. Papanikolaou worked as Deputy Clinical Director at Assisted Reproduction and Gynaecology Centre (ARGC), the well-known London fertility clinic with the highest IVF success rates in the UK and the world, for over 25 years. He is also a Former Clinical Fellow at London Fertility Centre (LFC) directed by Professor Ian Craft, pioneer in infertility and reproductive medicine. Professor Craft's team was responsible for Europe's first IVF twins in 1982. His experience also includes working as a Registrar at Dundee University NHS Hospital where he practised in gynaecological laparoscopic surgery and reproductive medicine. Prior to this, he worked as an Obstetrician Gynaecologist in Leeds and Hartlepool NHS University Teaching Hospitals. In 2007 he established his own private IVF clinic in Athens called Life Clinic. He is a pioneer in diagnosing and treating immunological problems affecting fertility and pregnancy.

Job Titles:

• Head Midwife and Clinical Coordinator

Eleanna joined us at Life Clinic in 2017 as head midwife and coordinator. She is in close contact with all of our patients and she is always available to help. Her vast experience in Assisted Reproduction procedures and her willingness to help, makes her a vital supportive part for every patient during their fertility trip with us. She studied midwifery at the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki and completed her training at the General Hospital of Ioannina G. Hatzikosta. She received her MSc in 2019 in "Advanced and Evidence Based Midwifery Care" from the University of West Attica, specialising in obstetric ultrasound.

Job Titles:

• Director of Clinical Embryology Life Clinic / Senior Consultant Clinical Embryologist

Dr. Konstantinos Economou joined us as the Director of Clinical Embryology in Life Clinic Athens, Assisted Reproduction Unit in May 2019. He has 16 years clinical work experience, spanning all aspects of clinical embryology and andrology. He is also a clinical embryology instructor, training embryologists of the clinic. Dr. Economou received his bachelor's degree in Biology in 2002, with a focus on human molecular genetics from University of Crete, Greece. He received his MSc in 2003 in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine from the University College London, United Kingdom. He obtained his PhD in Clinical Embryology in 2017 from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Dr. Economou has developed and published an innovative clinical protocol to safely salvage aged human unfertilized oocytes after ICSI. He is responsible for the first healthy live birth in Greece after oocyte polar body biopsy and PGD by array CGH analysis and for the first healthy live birth in the country after blastocyst trophectoderm biopsy and PGD by karyomapping. He is also responsible for the first healthy live birth in Greece after blastocyst trophectoderm biopsy and PGD for "Hereditary Angioedema". He is a member and conference speaker of several national and international human assisted reproductive societies. He has published extensively in both national and international peer-reviewed IVF journals, and he is an active reviewer for several major journals in the field. Dr. Economou has been performing human embryo and egg biopsies in London clinics since 2004. He was officially certified as an embryo biopsy practitioner by the UK HFEA (Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority), the UK's fertility regulatory authority.

Job Titles:

• Fertility Acupuncturist / Life Clinic Athens

At Life Clinic we are proud to work together with Sophia, a highly experienced and remarkable therapist who has studied and practiced in Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture both in the USA and China. "My goal is," says Ms Konsolakis, "to put my knowledge and years of experience into helping women with fertility problems and also making pregnancy a "smiling" experience. Having experienced herself, the stressful process of assisted reproduction, dedicated her efforts in help of those couples who are undergoing this process. The combination of personalized medicine and traditional Chinese acupuncture has great results for almost every woman.