Maria Agorastou holds a PhD in Education, along with Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Clinical Social Work. She is a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist certified in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Internal Family Systems (IFS Informed). Specializing in trauma-focused care, Dr. Agorastou teaches courses in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Psychotraumatology, with a focus on integrative approaches to researching and healing trauma, particularly complex trauma. Her professional interests extend to educational system reform, with a focus on creating and implementing trauma-informed curricula that promote resilience and mental and emotional well-being in secondary and higher education settings. As the Director of the University Counseling Center, Dr. Agorastou oversees all clinical aspects of the center, bridging evidence-based practices with holistic methodologies. Her work fosters innovation in therapeutic and educational settings, aligning clinical practice with transformative educational approaches.

Arthur Antonopoulos is a published writer, researcher, and an adjunct faculty member at the Hellenic American University. He is a graduate of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (B.A. in Politics and Literature) from which he also holds an Honours Degree (Literature) and a Master’s Degree (M.A. International Relations). He is also a Master’s graduate of the Hellenic American University (MSPsy in Clinical Psychology) and has taught English for academic and professional purposes both within various learning institutions but also privately. He is an accredited NLP & Microexpressions practitioner, MMPI-2 certified and a Scrum Master. Mr. Antonopoulos is a mental health counsellor who focuses predominantly on aspects of behaviour and communication, but also continues to write and publish novels and conduct research.

Distinguished Visiting Faculty

School of Social Sciences

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Professor George Chrousos is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Endocrinology, holder of the UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, Director of the University Research Institute on Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine at the NKUA, and Senior Investigator at the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. Professor Chrousos pioneered studies that elucidated the effects of stress on the organism at the behavioral, neuroendocrine, cellular and molecular levels and made seminal observations in the glucocorticoid signaling system of the cell and deciphered some of its key clinical implications. Professor Chrousos’s work has been cited over 157,000 times (H-index192) making him one of the top 100 cited authors (Google Scholar April 2020). He has received numerous major awards, including the Fred Conrad Koch Award, the highest honor of the US Endocrine Society. Professor Chrousos is the Director of the Hellenic American University M.S. in Stress and Health Management Program.

Maria Dimou is a pediatrician-pediatric allergist and a scientific associate at the Allergology and Clinical Immunology Unit of the Second Pediatric Clinic of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). She graduated from the Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is a certified specialist in Pediatrics. Dr. Dimou served as a Consultant at the Pediatric Clinic of Karolinska Children’s Hospital, “Astrid Lindgren,” where she further specialized in pediatric allergy, earning the official title of pediatric allergist from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. She also holds a PhD from NKUA. Dr. Dimou’s research focuses on pediatric allergology, particularly allergic rhinitis and its comorbidities in children. She continues to practice as a pediatric allergist in Sweden, while contributing to the field through her membership in the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the European Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA, Greek group) and the Hellenic Society of Pediatric Allergology.

Alexandra Grigoropoulou holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Business Administration from the University of La Verne. She graduated from the University of Indianapolis with a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, Mental Health Counseling. She has worked as a counselor and IB Advisor in the Elementary, Middle, and High School at the American Community School of Athens (ACS Athens) from 2007 until 2018. She has been holding her private practice for 4 years. Additionally, she has been working with other private practices and organizations in Athens. She presented in the 10th Annual Conference on Learning Differences in Athens. Ms. Grigoropoulou teaches in the Psychology program at the Hellenic American University.

Erato-Maria Ioannidou (Eri) is a forensic psychologist with a degree from the Psychology Department of the University of Crete and an MSc in Forensic Psychology from Maastricht University. She is also a life coach with a diploma in Life Coaching from the Athens Coaching Institute. Ms. Ioannidou has conducted research on issues related to correctional officers’ stress, on students’ attitudes and perceptions towards corruption and on psychopathy. Her latest main research interest has been police officers’ mental resilience. Her research has been conducted in collaboration with University departments, the Ministry of Justice as well as the Centre for Penal and Criminological Research. She has contributed to the creation of the first Hellenic Criminology dictionary and has also published several chapters in collective volumes. She has worked at the General Clinic “Asklipios” in Rethymno, the Special Detention Juvenile Center of Avlona,  the Greek Official Centre for Resettlement of Ex-prisoners “Epanodos” and the Cyber Crime Division of the Hellenic Police. She  also collaborates with the Center of Research on Crime. Her main work duties have included counseling of socially vulnerable groups, supervision of educational programs for underage and adult offenders, risk and recidivism assessment, prejudicial preparation of minors who have been victims of sexual abuse (domestic or not) and assessment of a minor’s competence to testify. 

Maria Karyotaki is the Education Consultant for Secondary Education in the field of Economics at the prefecture of Piraeus. She specializes in the holistic reform of financial education based on students' knowledge, abilities, skills and values. After earning a aν MSc in Pedagogics and Psychology she received her PhD from the Department of Information & Communication Systems Engineering at the University of the Aegean in collaboration with the Net Media Lab Mind & Brain R&D, IIT, NCSR Demokritos, Athens. Her dissertation dealt with the design and development of a digital tool (conversational agent) for tracing, training and enhancing cognitive and metacognitive skills in adults. Her research interests lie in the fields of neuroscience, education, economics, pedagogy and psychology.

Barbara Kondilis is a mental health counselor/ Educator and Trainer. She holds a Master of Public Health and a Master of Social Work from Boston University, a B.A. in Psychology from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and Doctoral studies ongoing at Hellenic American University. She began her professional career working in the mental health field in the mid 1990’s with individuals, groups, and families, and is a clinical social worker licensed in Massachusetts, USA. Her background allowed her to work in various settings in the areas of public health, mental health, research, and education/training. Trained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, she worked on syphilis elimination efforts for Infectious Diseases, as well as the Division of Adolescent and School Health. Further, she coordinated a state-wide diabetes quality improvement initiative for the State of Rhode Island, spearheading several health communication initiatives. Ms. Kondilis has co-authored numerous research articles and book chapters, and was a recipient of an EU Marie Curie Reintegration Grant. She was a member of the first European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU), which received the 2012 European Health Award - European Health Forum Gastein, and Board Member of the Hellenic Scientific Society for Health Literacy. At Hellenic American University she has served as Coordinator of Student Affairs, and Academic Director for General Education. She is currently an adjunct faculty member and teaches in the undergraduate program at Hellenic American University.

George Lagios is a mental health counselor, author and public speaker. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the American College of Greece and an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Hellenic American University He also completed, with distinction, diplomas in sexual addiction and psychosexual therapy from Open College, UK, and taken part in seminars and workshops on a spectrum of topics, including LGBTQI issues, mental health mediation in the workplace, and trauma and violence among refugees. The founder of the NGO Moirazomai, he has given lectures on effective altruism and the significance of sharing, sexual addiction, and the management of financial stress. In December 2019 George published his first book, Would You Choose Yourself as Your Parent? Currently, George is a PhD candidate at New York College. He is an adjunct faculty member at Hellenic American University and teaches psychosexual therapy in the M.S. in Psychology program.

Anna K. Mavrelos was born and raised in the United States and currently lives in Athens, Greece. She holds a B.A. in Psychology, an M.S. in Clinical Psychology, an M.A. in Education, a postgraduate degree in Leadership in Education, and a Montessori license. Anna is a 25-year veteran teacher who has taught students from kindergarten through college. Her teaching experience includes multicultural, ESL, special needs, and neurodivergent students. While in Greece, she was the co-founder and co-owner of Pedopolis Children’s Center in Glyfada until 2020. Anna is also a clinical psychologist who uses CBT and EFT in her private practice . Anna specializes in individual, couples, and group therapy. She is also a partner with Roots Wellness Center since 2021. Anna is an adjunct faculty member teaching in the Psychology program.

Lindy Sannie McMullin holds a PGCE in Western Esotericism from Exeter University (UK), and Master of Science in Transpersonal Psychology & Consciousness Studies from Northampton University (UK). She taught Psychology in the United Kingdom and then completed a research Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She holds diplomas in Mindfulness, Regression Therapy, Stress Management and Public Relations, and is involved in the supervising and training of therapists. She was president of the Hellenic Association for Transpersonal Psychology and Research for a period of five years and directed the 16th International EUROTAS conference in Crete in 2014. She has been an educator for a number of years and has taught Psychology and Multicultural Education at a number of universities over the past six years. She is an author, researcher, educator, motivational speaker, and certified transpersonal psychotherapist. Particularly drawn to exploring potential through the expressive arts, she has taught students of all ages over the years, focused on their uniqueness and talents. She is dedicated to bridging the gaps between the different psychological approaches, providing training in personal, professional, and transpersonal development, and striving for holism in the field of psychology as a science. She is Associate Professor and holds the position of Director of the Undergraduate and Graduate Psychology Programs at the Hellenic American University and is in private practice.

Anna Nikolaou is a sociologist with extensive research experience. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and an M.A. in Sociological Research from the University of Essex and a B.A. in Sociology from the American College of Greece. Her research interests include cross-border social, economic and cultural relationships, collective memory and identity, political violence and cultural trauma. She has worked as a Research Assistant and Junior Researcher at the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE) in Athens. As an external collaborator of the National Centre for Social Research and other academic institutions, she has participated in several research projects addressing diverse sociological topics and theories, produced and published research. She has a keen interest in sociological research and methodology. A significant part of her research has dealt with the methodological deficiencies in measuring child poverty.

Dr George Paltoglou is a consultant pediatric endocrinologist practicing in Athens, Greece. He previously served as a consulting pediatric endocrinologist in the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology of the Evelina London Children’s Hospital (London, UK). earned his MD and PhD degrees from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece and completed his pediatrics residency at Aghia Sophia Children’s Hospital. He has had fellowships at various UK hospitals, including the Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London Hospital. He has co-authored 27 scientific publications in PubMed. His research interests include the fields of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, Exercise Endocrinology, Obesity and Metabolic Medicine. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Hellenic American University M.S. in Health and Stress Management program.

Anna Papageorgiou is a Charokopeian University graduate as well as a graduate of the Physical Education Department of the Kapodistrian University of Athens. She was a Scientific Associate of the 1st University Pediatric Department of Agia Sofia Children’s Hospital . Her expertise there, as clinical nutritionist, was to organize and operate the Childhood Obesity Clinic “Agia Sophia”, from 2003-2007. She is now a PhD Nutritionist & Clinical Dietitian. Dr. Papageorgiou is also an adjunct professor who teaches in the Stress Health Management program.

Effie Tsilibary is an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the Coordinator of the MS in Stress and Health Management at Hellenic American University. Her expertise includes the examination of signaling and survival pathways in cultured neuronal and other cells in normal and pathological conditions, with a focus on neurodegenerative diseases. She has examined cellular and molecular mechanisms affecting the structure and function of cultured neural cells in vitro in Gulf War Illness (and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in experimental Alzheimer disease (AD) in vitro and in vivo. More recently she has been involved in an ongoing study of a women’s cohort at the Brain Sciences Center of the VAMC of Minneapolis that seeks to identify factors predisposing to dementia. She has published several peer-review articles and chapters on the theme of AD- and GWI-associated neurodegeneration, and has a life-long track record in cell biology and signaling mechanisms in health and diseased conditions, with over 85 related, peer-review publications.

Elisavet Varvogli, M.A., Ph.D., is a psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice and adjunct professor in the School of Medicine at Kapodistrian University of Athens, in the post-graduate interdisciplinary program “Stress Management and Health Promotion.” She is on the publishing board and faculty of the UNESCO section of Adolescent Health and Medicine. Before that she was adjunct faculty at Northeastern University, Boston MA where she taught master’s level psychology courses. She is a licensed psychologist in Boston MA and Greece. Dr. Varvogli is certified in and has extensive clinical experience in CBT, Mindfulness, EMDR, IFS, Motivational Interviewing, Coaching, and IQ and personality testing, and supervising students. Dr. Varvogli has earned her MA at Tufts University, her Ph.D. at Northeastern University and has completed her post-doctoral training at Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where she worked for 10 years as a psychologist. Dr. Varvogli has over 80 scientific publications in international refereed journals and over 40 published books in Greek and English about self-development.