Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group

Dr Nikolaos Kokras is a psychiatrist, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry based at the First Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital who also collaborates with the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group at the Department of Pharmacology (Assoc. Prof. C. Dalla). Dr. Kokras has several years of experience in psychopharmacology, drug screening and translational pharmacology. He received his medical degree in 1999, an MSc (Research) degree in Affective Neuroscience in 2006 with a thesis on the HPA axis regulation and his PhD in Pharmacology in 2011 with a thesis on the sex-related differential response to antidepressants. In 2005 he earned a fellowship from the International Brain Research Organization and he spent time at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry at the Research Group of Dr. Osborne F. X. Almeida. There, he received training in molecular techniques and performed studies on the role of HPA axis in sex differences in models of depression and anxiety. In parallel with his PhD studies, he was appointed as a psychiatric trainee in late 2007 and received his certificate of completed psychiatric training in September 2010 from the First Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, Medical School of Athens. Before joining Eginition Hospital, he received training for one year at the South London, Maudsley & Oxleas NHS trust in London, UK. During his clinical training he was elected as a board member in the Trainee’s Committee of the National Psychiatric Association and now is serving in the board of Young Psychiatrists Network. Moreover, Dr. Kokras has earned two fellowships from the State Institute of Fellowships (IKY) and with one of them he re-joined the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry for 6 months in 2014. He has participated in several research programs funded by the EU and national agencies. He has received several distinctions from the IBRO, ECNP, BAP, HSN, IKY and the WPA. Dr Kokras has published 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals covering fields of experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, as well as liaison psychiatry and psychosomatics (>3500 citations, h-index 29, source Google Scholar). He has also co-authored 8 chapters in international and Greek books and he has more than 100 abstracts in Greek and international conferences. He serves as a peer-reviewer in several scientific journals.