Nikolaos Kallistis

Profile

Biosketch

I obtained my Diploma in Applied Mathematics and Physical Sciences at National Technical University of Athens, Greece. The subject of my diploma thesis was the study of the 2D Heisenberg Model with Model Carlo Methods, which is an open research topic in theoretical physics. In this project I gained lot of experience in programming (C#) and research methodology. Furthermore, during my studies I had the opportunity to get deeper knowledge into the subject of medical physics by undertaking an internship offered in medical centre “Euromedica” in the department of MRI. During this period my duties were mainly to watch and learn through working routine. Though, after a while my supervisors entrusted me with several tasks including the post-processing and analysis of the acquired images. I also became familiar with the working environment and I got to know the liabilities and responsibilities of a medical physicist.

My next step was to obtain a MSc in Medical Physics and Radiation physics at the National University of Athens. Among the different fields of medical physics, the most interesting for me are Radiology and applications of NMR, due to the wide range of applications, the technological achievements and the open research field that they offer. My master’s thesis is titled “Development and implementation of quality assurance protocols in functional MRI”. I got involved with this subject because of its novelty and due to the lack of such a protocol in Greece.

The following year, after my MSc, I worked as Medical Physicist Trainee at University Hospital of Ioannina, where I followed the daily routine of a medical physicist in the department of nuclear medicine, radiotherapy and radiology. This includes to assure the safety of the personnel and patients of the hospital due to radiation sources, perform quality assurance protocols for radiology equipment (CT, X-Ray, MRI, gamma camera, etc) and radiotherapy equipment (LINACS, Brachytherapy), and to accept, storage and waste radiation sources (radio-pharmaceuticals, Tc-generator). Finally, I was assisting in treatment planning in radiotherapy department. 

I joined the University of Leeds in October 2016 as a PhD student working on direct reconstruction of pharmacokinetic maps from undersampled radial MRI raw data in liver. I got involved in this project due to my keen interest in MRI and medical physics as well due to the high prospects of the project.

Research interests

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers
• Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI
• Functional MRI
• Pharmacokinetics Mapping
• Image reconstruction techniques
• Liver - Abdomen Imaging

Qualifications

• BSc
• MSc