Dr. Theodoros Kyprianou, MD PhD EDIC, is Head of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at Nicosia General Hospital in Cyprus and Associate Professor, St Georges University of London – Medical Programme at the University of Nicosia Medical School. Dr. Kyprianou is currently Chair of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine’s Technology Assessment and Health Informatics Working Group.
1. What are your key areas of interest and research?
Our multidisciplinary team has been working for the last decade on telemedicine, tele-education, bio-signals management and big data architectures, patient data management systems and their applications in ICU, aiming to improve quality of care of critically ill patients and their families. The Technology Assessment and Health Informatics trans-sectional Working Group of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine is moving towards this direction, establishing an international collaboration, the "European Intensive Care Big Data Network" which is currently looking for European funding through COST and other funding schemes.
2. What are the major challenges in your field?
Being in an environment of limited resources, many ICUs within or outside Europe should take important decisions to maintain quality of care and boost R&D in a sustainable way. It is our deep belief that, computer science and informatics, being the economic activity with the highest productivity, should be used extensively, blended with other healthcare technologies in order to deliver safe and high quality services while reducing costs! Examples are the patient data management system (PDMS), e-ICU, tele-rehabilitation and e-platforms for education and families support.
Another major challenge in ICM is the scarcity of translational research and Big Data infrastructures, which constitutes a major bottleneck in clinical research and especially  in informing appropriately our randomised trials. We urgently need structural changes at both academic and corporate level in order to accommodate these new challenges and give incentives to the new generation of scientists to work in the field.
3. What is your top management tip?
Intensive care units attract personnel who are the crème de la crème bearing high expectations and even higher capabilities! Encouraging self-motivation and adopting bottom up style to everyday management and processes allows for continuous and sustainable quality improvement. ICU is an uncompromising battle against death and disability and in the battlefield, the most important thing is always to lead by example ...
4. What would you single out as a career highlight?
Two days! Primarily, the day our first in the country closed-type ICU opened its doors to critically ill patients after years of hard work and fierce opposition ... Last but not least, the day our first cohort of intensive care fellows came to the unit to be trained. That memorable day I said to myself that all the hard work my team and myself had put into creating the right environment for our patients can be propagated and with some luck and faith become standards!
5. If you had not chosen this career path you would have become a…?
Lifetime traveller of the world ... first Greece, thecmainland and islands! Inch by inch!
6. What are your personal interests outside of work?
I am volunteering for a number of non-government organisations (NGOs) or citizens' movements like the "Intensive Care Forum" and "International Humanitarian Aid". I love mediaeval Byzantine Music!
7. Your favourite quote?
In God we trust ... all others ... Bring Data!
Dr Kyprianou was born in Limassol, Cyprus, and studied medicine with a state scholarship at the Medical School, University of Athens and the University of London (elective student for the final year). He subsequently completed clinical fellowships in Pulmonary Medicine & Tuberculosis (1992-1997) and Intensive Care Medicine (2000-2002) in several University Hospitals in Athens. He obtained his PhD (1997-2002) from the Dept. of Pulmonary & Intensive Care Medicine, University of Athens in 2002, and was an external research fellow for many years after. He also attended several postgraduate training programs in Intensive Care Medicine in a number of Hospitals / University Clinics / Research Centres in Great Britain, France & Italy. He is instructor - Fundamental Critical Care Support course (Society of Critical Care Medicine, USA).
He is the founding Head of the Department of Intensive Care at Nicosia General Hospital (since 2006). In 2011, upon completion of 20 years of pioneering clinical work, professional teaching and funded research, he was elected as Associate Professor at St Georges' University of London Medical Programm delivered at the Medical School, University of Nicosia and in 2015 as tenure Associate Professor of Physiology & Intensive Care Medicine at the Medical School, University of Cyprus. He served as academic lead for clinical skills and currently is module Lead for Anaesthesia / Intensive Care / Emergency Medicine (F-year, MBBS programme) and is academic committee member / coordinator in 2 MSc distance learning programmes (Health Care Management & Applied Health Informatics) at the Open University of Cyprus. He also served for a number of years as deputy chair of the National Committee for bioethical assessment of Biomedical and Clinical research. He was National Coordinator and member of the editorial committee for the development of the European curriculum for training in Intensive Care Medicine (CoBaTrICE), and is currently the Chair (2014-2017) of Technology Assessment & Health Informatics trans-sectional Working Group at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.
Dr Kyprianou participated as researcher and has served as scientific / national coordinator in a number of cofounded research programmes, both national (Immuno-nutrition / AROGE) and EU-funded (EMISPHER / HEALTHWARE / Tele-Hippocrates / COBATRICE / PROSAFE / CREACTIVE / Tele-Rehabilitation / Tele-Prometheus / IASIS / ARIADNE) with a budget of more than 3,000,000 euros. Along with his multidisciplinary research team and international collaborators he has presented / published / participated in over 100 scientific articles / posters / presentations in congresses and peer-reviewed journals in the fields of ICU bio-signals and data management, intensive care education and training, critical illness pathophysiology etc. He is a frequently invited lecturer in scientific congresses around Europe and the Middle East, and currently represents Cyprus as national expert in the EU HORIZON 2020 program SC1 committee (Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing). He also serves as vice-chairman on the boards of the NGOs “Intensive Care Forum” and “International Humanitarian Aid” and as a council member on the citizen’s NGO “ELEPHERIA”.

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