Elisavet Symeonidou-Kastanidou is a Professor of Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National Academy for Judges (Greece).
She is the President of the Society for the Study of Medical Law and Bioethics and responsible for the coordination of the Aristotle University Network “Contemporary Medical Praxis, Biomedicine and Law”. She directs the (Greek) journal “Medical Law and Bioethics” and she is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal “European Criminal Law Review” (www.euclr.eu) as well as of three other (Greek) journals on criminal law and bioethiks. She is co – editor of the series: “Essays on Medical Law and Bioethics”, “Medical Praxis, Biomedicine and Law” and “Special Criminal Laws”.
Professor Symeonidou – Kastanidou has served as Chair of the Legislative Commission for the revision of the Greek Criminal Code and as a member of the Supreme Courts of Art. 88 and 91 of the Greek Constitution. She directs the Laboratory of European Criminal Law at AUTH, she is a member of the European Criminal Policy Initiative (ECPI) and a member of numerous national and international Scientific Societies.
She has been invited as a speaker to more than 180 national and international congresses. She has written, alone or in cooperation with other authors, 31 books (three of them in English and one in English and German) and 250 studies, published in journals, honorary volumes or Congress Proceedings in Greek, English and German.

Professor of Obstetrics – Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Past Dean, School of Medicine,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Vice President of the Council,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Visiting Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy,
Dutch-speaking Brussels Free University (AZ-VUB)

Past Deputy Chairman of the National Authority of Medically Assisted Reproduction

Past Chairman of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) and
Member of the Ethics and Law Committee of ESHRE

Past President of the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS)

Member of 24 National and 18 International Scientific Societies

Editorial Board Member of 7 National and 14 International Scientific Journals

Editor or Co-Editor in 5 Scientific Books

267 Publications in International peer-reviewed Scientific Journals
(6439 citations) and 80 in National Journals

32 Publications in International Books and 29 in National Books

45 Publications in Proceedings of International Congresses and
42 Publications in Proceedings of National Congresses

152 Abstracts in International Congresses and 92 in National Congresses

Ηelen Rethimiotaki was born in Athens, Greece in 1964. She has studied Law in the Law School of Athens University. She has obtained a Master in Sociology of Law from Law Department of Pantéon-Assas (Paris II) University. She has also made her PhD study in the same University regarding medical deontology and bioethics from a perspective of Sociology of Law, for which she has obtained a honorable distinction. She is a lawyer, member of Athens Lawyers’ chamber. During the period of 1997-2005 she has worked as legal advisor in an insurance company specialized to commercial credit insurance for the risk of insolvency. In 2005 she became Lecturer in Law School of Athens University and in 2012 she became assistant professor.
She has studied Biomedicine and Information & Communication Technologies as fields of social relations regulated by the entanglement of rules and institutions of State Law and auto-regulation systems. She has also studied the relationship between Law and Politics in European Union and between E.U.’s legal order with the national ones. Finally she is studying the evolution trends of family Law in relation to the transformations of family and its alternative forms. Her main publications are:
1. Regulation or auto-regulation: The paradigm of Medically Assisted Reproduction (in Greek), Ant. Sakkoulas Athens-Komotini, 2003.
2. Sources of Law and Legal Pluralism in European Union (in Greek), Athens-Thessaloniki, Sakkoulas S.A, 2012.
3. Family and Law in Greece in the 21st century: trends of individualization and conventionalism (in Greek), 3rd Congress of Greek Sociological Society, Greek Society 1975-2010,changes and challenges, Athens, 3-5 November 2011.
4. European Public Sphere and Digital Political Communication: Facebook as a medium of political expression and participation, 4th International Conference on Information Law & Ethics, Bottis, M./ Alexandropoulou, E. (eds), Values and Freedoms in Modern Information Law and Ethics, 2012. –e book –

Nikos Koumoutzis was born in Athens. He holds a law degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, a DEA in private law from the University of Bordeaux I, as well as a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (for the thesis titled: ‘The parental responsibility of the child born out of wedlock and the father’s right to family life’ – Academy of Athens award 2011). His main research interests include human rights, family law, especially the law of medical assistance to human reproduction, law of restitution, tort law.
He is attorney at law, member of the Bar Association of Athens, of the Hellenic Civil Law Association, of the Medical Law and Bioethics Society, of the Family Law Society, and collaborator of the journal ‘Chronicles of Private Law’. Since 2014, he serves as Lecturer at the Law School of the University of Nicosia, where he teaches Greek Civil Law.
He speaks Greek (native language), French, English and can read German.

Kalliopi Kipouridou holds a law degree, as well as a Master degree (LLM) in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She obtained her PhD in Criminal Law in 2012. Her PhD studies were funded by the State Scholarships Foundation.
She is an appellate lawyer and has been a member of the Bar of Thessaloniki since 2002. She has also been a member of the Association of Medical Law and Bioethics since 2013.
Currently (2014), she gives lectures in the framework of police officers training on drug addiction, organized by the Organization against Drugs (Ο.ΚΑ.ΝΑ.) Additionally, she has taught at the Technological Educational Institution of Western Macedonia – Satelite Campus of Kastoria (academic year 2012 – 2013), at various Public Vocational Training Institutions (2007, 2010, 2012, 2013) and at the School for Tourist Guides of Thessaloniki (2009). Moreover, during the academic years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 she gave lectures for the interdepartmental Master degree programme on “CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL ACTS: LEGAL REGULATION AND BIOETHICAL DIMENSION”, organized by the School of Medicine and Dentistry, as well as by the Departments of Law and Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Since January 2014, she has been conducting post – doc research in the Sector of Criminal Law and Criminology of the Department of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki working on a project entitled “Assisted Reproduction and Protection of the Embryo in vitro” as part of the ARISTEIA II project, which is co funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology and by the National Strategic Reference Framework (ΕSPΑ).
She has written various papers, which have been published in legal reviews and in collective essays. She speaks English and French fluently.

Maria Milapidou was born in Thessaloniki in 1979. She finished the Experimental School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1997 with high honors. In 1998, she was admitted to the School of Law of Aristotle University and in 2002 she graduated summa cum laude. She has been working as an attorney at law since August 2004. She finished her graduate studies summa cum laude in the Department of Penal Law and Criminology of the School of Law, Aristotle University and in 2011 was awarded her PhD from the same institution. For the duration of her PhD studies she was a recipient of a scholarship from the Alexander Onassis Foundation. Since January 2014 she has been a post-graduate researcher in the Department of Penal Law and Criminology, School of Law, Aristotle University, working on a project entitled “Assisted Reproduction and Protection of the Embryo in vitro” as part of the ARISTEIA II project, which is co-financed by the Greek Secretariat of Research and Technology and the EU.
Since January 2012 she has been working as a lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, “CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL ACTS: LEGAL REGULATION AND BIOETHICAL DIMENSION,” co-sponsored by the Schools of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 2005 she has been employed as a teaching associate with yearly renewable contracts in the Department of Penal Law and Criminology, School of Law, Aristotle University.
Since December 2005 she has participated in the Network of the Research Committee of Aristotle University “Contemporary medical act, law and bioethics”. She is a member of the Association of Medical Law and Bioethics and since January 2011 she has been a contributor to the periodical “Medical Law and Bioethics”.
She has presented papers at conferences and seminars in the field of Bioethics. She has written a monograph and 19 papers/comments that have been published in law journals/reviews. She speaks English fluently, German, and French. She is married and has a son.

Roxani FRAGKOU
Is a postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (research field: Assisted reproduction and protection of the in vitro embryo) and a scientific officer at the Greek National Commission for Human Rights (GNCHR).
In 2005 she obtained her Master’s Degree in Public Law at the University Robert Schuman in Strasbourg and in 2010 she completed her PhD studies in Public Law at the University of Strasbourg (research field: Euthanasia and the right to refuse medical treatment in respect to the evolution of European comparative law (France, Greece, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and United Kingdom).
She has worked at the Faculty of Law and the Institute of Political Studies of the University of Strasbourg contributing to the teaching of Public Law, Constitutional Law and Political Institutions in France and the Comparative Law (2009-2012). Since 2011 she teaches Applied Ethics. References and foundation: References in bioethics at the European Center for the Study and Teaching of Ethics (CEERE) of the University of Strasbourg, as well as Constitutional Law at the Franco-hellenic College/University Paris XIII.

Marianna Vasileiou was born in Larissa in 1984 and graduated from the Soufli High School in the year 2002. She entered the same year in the School of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and graduated in 2007 with the grade “Very well”. In 2012, she obtained her MSc on Penal Law and Criminology from the School of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with the grade “Very well”. In 2014 she obtained the MSc entitled “CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL ACTS: LEGAL REGULATION AND BIOETHICAL DIMENSION” from the Interdisciplinary Program of Postgraduate Studies from the Schools of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with the grade “Excellent”. She is a PhD candidate of the School of Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The subject of her thesis is “Deficiencies and shortcomings of the current legal and ethical framework governing the applicable and the expected to be applied methods of medically assisted reproduction”. In 2009, she became a Lawyer and a member of the Thessaloniki Bar Association. She has an excellent knowledge of English and French and is fluent in Italian.
She has participated as a speaker in meetings concerning bioethics (“Organ donation and Transplant under the light of the Law 3984/2011” and “Abortion: Medical, legal and ethical issues”) and she has published chapters in books and articles in scientific journals on transplant, abortion and medically assisted reproduction to mentally ill persons. In 2012, she took part in Alexandra Dafni’s documentary on domestic violence “Break the silence”.
Her scientific interests, apart from law and bioethics, include the feministic outlook on law and the relationship of the latter with the arts in general.

Nicholaos Chr. Dimopoulos was born in 1987. In 2005 he graduated from the 1st Unified Lyceum of Sykies, Thessaloniki. During the same year, he entered the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, from which he graduated in 2009 with GPA 9.13 (“Excellent”). During his undergraduate studies he was a N. Abramides scholar.
In 2011 he sat for the Thessaloniki Bar exam and since then he is a licensed Lawyer of First Instance, registered in the Thessaloniki Bar Association.
In 2010 he entered the two-year Master’s Program of the Department of Public Law and Political Science of the Aristotle University’s Law School as a scholar of the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). He graduated in 2013 with GPA 9.25 (“Excellent”). His thesis in Constitutional Law was awarded the grade 10 (“Excellent”).
Since 2012 he is a graduate student at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he pursues the two-year Interdisciplinary Master’s Program “CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL ACTS: LEGAL REGULATION AND BIOETHICAL DIMENSION” ofthe Schools of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Theology, as a scholar of the LilianVoudouris Foundation. Among his activities in this program, he has written papers related to issues of assisted reproduction and bioethics, and to issues of civil medical liability.
In 2010 he participated in the international program “Munich University Summer Training in German and European Law” of the LMU (University of Munich), where he attended classes in German Law and EU Law. He completed the program with the grade 1.8 (“Excellent”).
Apart from his native Greek, he is fluent in English, while he has also a very good command of German.

Christina Sachinidou was born in Thessaloniki in 1977. In 1997 she graduated from the 2nd General Evening School of Thessaloniki and entered the Department of Medical Laboratories of the School of Health and Welfare from where she graduated with “Honours” degree (9.00) in 2001. In 2008 she entered the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from where she graduated with a “Very Good” (7.08) degree in 2012.

In 2012, (the first in her year to enter the postgraduate programme) she entered in the Interdepartmental Project of Postgraduate Studies (IPPS) of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The project is titled “Contemporary Medical Operations: Juridical Regulation and Bioethical Dimension” which is held between the Departments and Faculties of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Theology. She graduated with “Honours” degree (9.8) having written and published studies on assisted reproduction and medical liability while her thesis was on “Medically Assisted Reproduction in the Transexual People”.

In 2002 she was seated in the “Hippocratio” General Hospital of Thessaloniki where she is still working. She has assumed duty on a variety of posts of her professional body and its Health District, such as the National Regional Centre of Histocompatibility, the Centre of Molecular Blood Control, and the “Hippokratia” Medical Journal. Moreover, she has worked and is still in the position of a secretary in collective and single bodies of Administration (the Regional Board of the Selection and Assessment of the “National Health System” (NHS) Practitioners, Ethical Committee and Administration Board, the Administrator’s office).
Her scientific works include publications in scientific journals, propositions, statements as well as attending in conferences that touch both of her knowledge areas.

Antonios Tsalidis was born in Veria, Greece and in 2006 he graduated from the 3rd High School of Kozani, Greece. In the same year he entered the School of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and graduated in 2011 with grade 8,09/10 “Very well”. In 2014 he finished his postgraduate studies in Business and Labour law (LLM) in Law School of Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. During his studies he was awarded a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation.

He is currently finishing his studies in MSc “CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL ACTS: LEGAL REGULATION AND BIOETHICAL DIMENSION” from the Interdisciplinary Program of Postgraduate Studies from the Schools of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He wrote many scientific papers and essays concerning this field and published some of them. He has attented many conferences and gave lectures.

Since 2013 he is a lawyer, member of the Thessaloniki Bar Association. He is also since 2012 trainer for adults of the Centre for Security Studies (KEMEA) of Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection and teaches law courses to Private security personnel in Private and Public Vocational Training Institutions.

Since March 2014 he is conducting research at the Law School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki concerning “Assisted Reproduction and Protection of the Embryo in vitro” as part of the ARISTEIA II project, which is co funded by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology and by the National Strategic Reference Framework (ΕSPΑ).

He has an excellent knowledge of English, French and German.

Theodora Chortara was born in Serres in 1985 and graduated from the 1st High School of Serres in the year 2002. She entered the same year the School of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and graduated in 2007 with the grade “Very well”. In 2008, she obtained her Postgraduate Second Level Degree in” Applied Clinical Bioethics” from the I Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the «La Sapienza» University of Rome with honors. At the same year , she attended classes about Biolaw at the School of Medicine and Surgery at the Catholic University «Sacro Cuore» of Rome. In 2014 she obtained the MSc entitled “Contemporary Medical Acts: Legal Regulation and Bioethical Dimension” from the Interdisciplinary Program of Postgraduate Studies from the Schools of Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with the grade “Excellent” .The subject of her thesis is "The concept of the complication. Medical terms , definition and implementation at the Civil Trial ". Since March 2014 she is conducting research at the Law School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki concerning the Assisted Reproduction and embryo protection in vitro within the framework of the Action ARISTEIA II .In the year 2012 she has participated as a speaker in the scientific meetings “Organ donation and Transplant under the light of the Law 3984/2011” and “Abortion: Medical, legal and ethical issues”.
Since 2009, she is a lawyer and a member of the Thessaloniki Bar Association specializing in cases of medical liability and health law in general. She has an excellent knowledge of English, good knowledge of Italian and French, basic knowledge of Portuguese .