George P. Chrousos

Chrousos has focused his research on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) and has extensively studied the neuroendocrine alterations associated with mood disorders, sleep, pain perception, and immune function. In particular, he has worked on the glucocorticoid signaling system, diseases of the HPA axis, such as Cushing's syndrome, Addison's disease, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and the physiologic and molecular mechanisms of stress. Early in his career, he described in the Journal of Clinical Investigation the Glucocorticoid Resistance Syndrome, a rare genetic disease of the glucocorticoid receptor that causes hypertension and hyperandrogenism in children and adults. Subsequently, he has contributed the majority of the international original publications on this syndrome, which has served as a model of the study of the physiologic functions of these key steroid hormones that regulate the homeostasis of the organism.

George P. Chrousos is professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology Emeritus and former chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the Athens University Medical School, Greece. Earlier he was senior investigator, director of the Pediatric Endocrinology Section and Training Program, and chief of the Pediatric and Reproductive Endocrinology Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is also clinical professor of Pediatrics, Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University Medical School and distinguished visiting scientist, NICHD, NIH. Dr. Chrousos was the first general director of the Foundation of Biomedical Research of the Academy of Athens (2001–2002)[1]. He holds the UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care, while he held the 2011 John Kluge Chair in Technology and Society, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

He has helped develop the careers of over 60 young physicians and scientists, many of whom are now professors and chairpersons in Europe, the United States, Australia and Latin America, He directed training programs for physicians for many years. He taught at the University of Ioannina Medical School, Greece for 10 years (1980–1990). He has had visiting professorships and given prestigious and named lectures throughout the world.

Chrousos was born in Patras, Greece; attended the University of Athens Medical School; and finished as the valedictorian of his class in 1975. He completed his doctorate thesis at the University of Athens, followed by a residency in Pediatrics at New York University Medical School, New York, NY, and a fellowship in Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. He is Board Certified in Pediatrics/Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. He has held the directorship of the ACGME-accredited Affiliate NIH/Georgetown University Pediatric Endocrinology Training Program, was the chief of the Pediatric Endocrinology Section, and chief of the Pediatric and Reproductive Endocrinology Branch, NICHD, NIH. Dr. Chrousos went rapidly through the academic hierarchy steps from assistant professor to full professor of Pediatrics at Georgetown University, which he still holds, in addition to his professorship at Athens.