Dr. Nikitas  Arnaoutoglou

I am a visiting researcher at the Department of Psychiatry of Cambridge University  collaborating with Prof. J.T. O’Brien and member of the OAP team. In addition, I am a clinical research fellow at the Cambridge & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and the Windsor Research Unit.

From 2015 until 2017, I was an H. Clinical and Research Fellow at the Department of Old Age Psychiatry in the Neurobiology of Aging Research Team with Prof. K.P. Ebmeier‘s team,  Oxford University, UK.
I graduated from the School of Medicine of the  Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2004 and completed my one year  mandatory army conscription, working as a military doctor.

For the next two years I worked as a rural doctor and examined patients living in a remote area of Greece.  In  2011, under the supervision of Prof. St J Baloyannis I received my doctorate in dementia, in which I investigated the color perception of demented patients. Four years later, I became a fully board-certified psychiatrist.

Furthermore, I am the administrator and owner of a non-commercial stand-alone website (www.psyxiatros.gr) that has freely performed online nonymised anxiety and depression screening tests in the Greek language (2016-present).

In addition, he is in collaboration with the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees and the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) trying to normalize psychiatric training schemes and advance practices across the continent. In the past, I was one of the MOOC facilitators of the 1st EPA Massive Online Course titled: Introduction to #CBT for psychiatry.

My current project focuses on identifying accurate and effective screening assessment tools for Dementia with Lewy bodies, via state-of-the-art machine-learning techniques.

My goal is to improve the diagnostic rate of memory and mood disorders in older populations earlier than presented in the clinic and advance psychiatric training.

My Cambridge University Profile
My Cambridge Research Team

Attended Schools:

“Cognitive Deficits in Mental Disorders”, Oct. 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark
“ECNP School of Old Age Neuropsychopharmacology”, April 2015, Venice, Italy
“Leadership in Psychiatry and Professional Skills” June 2015, Porto, Portugal
“4th EPA Academia For Excellence in Psychiatry”, Summer School, May – June 2014, Strasbourg, France
e.t.c.

Attended Workshops – Courses:

Solving Biological Problems with Python – Bioinformatics Department –  University of Cambridge, September 2018
2nd Cambridge Representational Similarity Analysis and Advanced Computational Methods Workshop (RSA2018), MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit – University of Cambridge, May 2018
MRI and Radiation Safety course, Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, University of Cambridge, March 2018
Cambridge Computational Psychiatry Workshop – Dpt of Psychiatry – University of Cambridge, March 2018
Management Essentials: Recruitment, Compliance and Redeployment – School Of Clinical Medicine University of Cambridge, February 2018
MDS-UPDRS Training Program – Motor Examination: Ratings Assessment – January 2018
Good Clinical Practice In Research, November 2017
Section 12 Approved Clinician Course, Maudsley Hospital, September 2017
Computational Psychiatry Course , UCL, London July 2017
Ethics in Medical Research, University of Oxford, May 2016
Biostatistics in Medical research, University of Oxford, October 2016
Psychiatry Masterclass VII, Kings College, London, Thessaloniki June 2014
Advanced Motivational Interviewer – Workshop, Sept and  Oct. 2014, Psychiatric Hospital Thessaloniki, 2014
Psychiatry Masterclass VII, Kings College, London, Thessaloniki June 2013
Leap Institute Practitioner, Nov 2012

e.t.c.

Awards

Excellent Teaching Award 2018-2019,  Cambridge University Clinical Students’ Society –  School of Clinical Medicine
Best presentation in Europe EFPT GLOBAL HEALTH FORUM 2015 Title of presentation: “Consequences of The Financial Crisis on The Greek Health Care System – A Review On A Greek Tragedy”  – Arnaoutoglou NA et al.
National State Scholarship – 1st place – Neurosciences, Athens,  Greece

Congresses

Multiple at an International and National level

Book Chapters

The Psychotherapy Guidebook – European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) – Download it from here (Free)

Clinical Trials

Currently,  sub-investigator in three active  phase II Clinical trials testing new compounds in dementia.

Publications List

  Orchid Profile
Google Scholar Profile

1. Color perception differentiates Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) from Vascular Dementia (VaD) patients

   Arnaoutoglou NA., Arnaoutoglou M., Nemtsas P., Costa V., Baloyannis SJ., Ebmeier KP.

   Background: Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Vascular Dementia (VaD) are the most common causes of dementia in older people. Both diseases appear to have similar clinical symptoms, such as deficits in attention and executive function, but specific cognitive domains are affected. Current cohort studies have shown a close relationship between deposits and age-related macular degeneration (Johnson et al., 2002; Ratnayaka et al., 2015). Additionally, a close link between the thinning of the retinal nerve fiber (RNFL) and AD patients has been described, while it has been proposed that AD patients suffer from a non-specific type of color blindness (Pache et al., 2003). Methods: Our study included 103 individuals divided into three groups: A healthy control group (n=35), AD (n=32) according to DSM-IV-TR, NINCDS-ADRDA criteria, and VaD (n=36) based on NINDS-AIREN, as well as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) results. The severity of patient’s cognitive impairment, was measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and was classified according to the Reisberg global

   https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-psychogeriatrics/article/color-perception-differentiates-alzheimers-disease-ad-from-vascular-dementia-vad-patients/57D871E93BF9072A812972514DA9310A

2. How is psychotherapy training perceived by psychiatric trainees? A cross-sectional observational study in Europe

   Gargot T., Dondé C., Arnaoutoglou NA., Klotins S., Marinova P., Silva R., Sönmez E., EFPT Psychotherapy Working Group

   Abstract: Background: Current recommendations on psychotherapy training for psychiatric trainees in Europe are available from the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) and the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). Despite trainees’ high motivation and the acknowledged effectiveness of psychotherapy, recent studies have shown a significant lack of training. No study so far has focused on a large European sample. Methods: From 2013 to 2015, the EFPT conducted an online cross – sectional survey among psychiatric trainees and early career psychiatrists from 22 European countries. Results: Out of 572 respondents, 92% considered psychotherapy important for their professional ide ntity, 90% wanted to practice psychotherapy after their training. Respondents were interested in a great variety of psychotherapies. Almost half underwent psychotherapy training, a third did not have any training experience in psychotherapy. Less than one half had access to supervision. Only 9% were satisfied with the level of funding of their psychotherapy training. Although recommendations of the EFPT and UEMS are widely recognised, they are not implemented consistently. Conclusions: There is a large mismatch between the high motivation of respondents to train in psychotherapy and the actual training opportunities available. The EFPT strongly supports initiatives that can improve psychotherapy training. We believe that wider availability of high – quality online learning resources for trainees, as well as international collaborations between psychiatry training associations and psychotherapy associations could be a step in the right direction to bridge this gap.

   http://www.europsy-journal.com/article/S0924-9338(17)32901-2/fulltext

   3. Polyneuropathy and myopathy in beta-thalassemia major patients

   P. Nemtsas, M. Arnaoutoglou, V. Perifanis, E. Koutsouraki, G. Spanos, N. Arnaoutoglou, P. Chalkia, D. Pantelidou, A. Orologas

   The thalassemias are the most common single gene disorder in the world. Nowadays, the average life expectancy of patients in developed countries has increased significantly, while, there was an increase of complications. We aimed to investigate peripheral neuropathy and myopathy in this patient group using a neurophysiological study. We performed nerve conduction studies and electromyography of upper and lower extremities on 36 beta-thalassemia major (β-thal) patients. The electrophysiological findings were correlated with demographic data and laboratory parameters of the disease. Patients with β-thal present polyneuropathy or myopathy at (50%). Polyneuropathy was detected in (38.9%) and myopathy in (27.8%), while polyneuropathy and myopathy were present at (16.7%) with an overlap of the diseases in 1/3 of the patients. There was not a statistically significant correlation of polyneuropathy and myopathy with age, sex, splenectomy, nor with respect to laboratory parameters, hemoglobin, and ferritin. However, there was a statistically significant correlation of polyneuropathy and myopathy with iron overload, as recorded by the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart and the liver. Our findings suggest that iron overload plays a key role in the pathogenesis of polyneuropathy and myopathy in β-thal patients, and performing heart and liver MRI for the prediction of such lesions in an annual basis is warranted.

   https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00277-018-3251-7

Professional Societies

2018 – present	International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
2017 – present	World Psychiatric Association (WPA)
2016 – present	Young Psychiatrists Network (YPN)
2015 – present	Hellenic Psychiatric Association (HPA)
2014 – present	European Psychiatric Association (EPA)
2014 – 2015	European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP)
2013 – 2015	European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT)
2012 – 2015	Union of Greek Psychiatric Trainees – Member of the board

Post-Degree Honors and Awards,

2017	World Psychiatric Association (WPA) – Young Psychiatrist Fellowship Program
2016	Scholarship to attend Cognition in mental disorders
2015	Scholarship to attend Leadership Course on Psychiatry
2015	European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees, Portugal – Best European Country Award
2014	Scholarship to attend ECNP School of old age Psychiatry
2013-14	Delegate of Greece European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees
2014	Scholarship European Psychiatric Association, Excellence in Psychiatry
2013	Member of the Board – Hellenic Association of Psychiatric Trainees
2005	Honorary Reserve Lieutenant Military Doctor of Hellenic Army
2004	PhD Scholarship Greek State Scholarship Foundation, I.K.Y.