Email: gcf@vet.uth.gr
Phone: +30 24410 66070

 Contact with students: Τρίτη 12:00 – 14:00

G.C. Fthenakis

Professor

Pathophysiology of reproduction

 

Research interests

Small ruminant health management, Diseases of small ruminants, Welfare of small ruminants

 

Curriculum vitae

Dr George C. Fthenakis, Dip.ECAR, Dip.ECSRHM, a graduate (DVM) of the Veterinary School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, has undertaken postgraduate studies (MSc, PhD) at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London. He has become a de facto Diplomate of the European College of Animal Reproduction and an invited specialist Diplomate of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management.

Currently, he is included among the top 2% of more influential scientists internationally in the field of ‘Veterinary Sciences’.

He is Professor and the Past-Dean of the Veterinary Faculty (2016-20) and has also been a Dean of the Faculty of Animal Science (2019-21) of the University of Thessaly. He was the Foundation President of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management (2008-11). He also served four terms as President of the Farm Animal Division of the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society (2009-21).

He has been invited and lectured in the veterinary schools of the Universities of Edinburgh, Guelph, Hannover, Liverpool, Thessaloniki and Zaragoza.

He has supervised successfully 11 PhD theses and one European Veterinary College specialisation programme. Currently, he supervises five PhD research students.

He has managed 29 research grants, funded by the public (European Commission, Government of Greece) or the private (animal health industry) sector, among them the ‘Goshomics’ (budget: 1,788,500 €, 10 partners) and the ‘Academic teaching experience for young scientists at the University of Thessaly’ (budget: 6,150,000 €) projects.

He has published 237 refereed papers (cumulative impact factor: 570.0). His publications have received 5300 citations (h-index: 38). He has served as editor in Small Ruminant Research, BMC Veterinary Research, Journal of Dairy Research and Journal of the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society, and as guest-editor in Animal Reproduction Science, Pathogens, Veterinary Microbiology and Veterinary Parasitology. He has authored or edited four books.

He has presented talks in conferences world-wide (512 abstracts in conference proceedings), among them 76 invited/keynote presentations. He was the organiser of the 6th International Sheep Veterinary Congress (2005), the 1st European Conference in Small Ruminant Health Management (2011) and the 11th (2009) and 13th (2015) Greek National Veterinary Congresses.

Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Greek National Veterinary Drug Licencing Board. Also, he has participated in various national or international committees, including the European Board for Veterinary Specialisation, the General Assembly of the Federation of Veterinarians in Europe, the Greek Veterinary Drug Formulary Board, the Council of the Greek Agricultural Academy, the Council of the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society and the committee ‘Welfare of sheep’ of the European Food Safety Authority.

He has received an Honorary scroll from the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society (2005), the ‘Allan Baldry’ award from the British Sheep Veterinary Society (2006), a Meritorious award from the Karditsa Society for Animal Welfare (2008) and the ‘Konstantinos Tarlatzis’ prize of the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society (2009). He was elected a Fellow of the Greek Agricultural Academy in 2010. He has received three Awards of Academic Scientific Excellence in ‘Veterinary Medicine and Science’ by the Greek Ministry of Education (2012, 2013, 2014; only Greek veterinarian to have received these awards), a Prize for excellent academic and scientific achievements by the Hellenic Veterinary Association (2013), an Award of Clinical Excellence by the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management (2014) and a Prize for the excellent and sustained support of the veterinary profession in Greece by the Hellenic Veterinary Association (2015) and a meritorious award by the organizing committee of the 9th International Sheep Veterinary Congress for the significant contributions at the conference (2017).

Full curriculum vitae

 

Courses

  • Obstetrics and Reproduction I
  • Obstetrics and Reproduction IΙ
  • Obstetrics and Reproduction IΙΙ
  • Obstetrics and Reproduction IV
  • Reproduction physiology and medicine of male laboratory and exotic animals and artificial insemination
  • Practical Training in Obstetrics and Reproduction I
  • Practical Training in Obstetrics and Reproduction IΙ
  • Specialised lectures in small ruminant reproductive management
 

Selected Publications

KATSAROU EI, LIANOU DT, PAPADOPOULOS E, FTHENAKIS GC (2022) Long‐term climatic changes in small ruminant farms in Greece and potential associations with animal health. Sustainability 14:1673.

LIANOU DT, ARSENOPOULOS KV, MICHAEL CK, PAPADOPOULOS E, FTHENAKIS GC (2022). Protozoan parasites in adult dairy small ruminants and potential predictors for their presence in faecal samples. Microorganisms 10:1931.

LIANOU DT, FTHENAKIS GC (2022). Scientometrics study of research output on sheep and goats from Greece. Animals 12:2666.

LIANOU DT, FTHENAKIS GC (2022). Use of antibiotics against bacterial infections on dairy sheep and goat farms: patterns of usage and associations with health management and human resources. Antibiotics 11:753.

LIANOU DT, MICHAEL CK, GOUGOULIS DA, CRIPPS PJ, VASILEIOU NGC, SOLOMAKOS N, PETINAKI E, KATSAFADOU AI, ANGELIDOU E, ARSENOPOULOS KV, PAPADOPOULOS E, ALBENZIO M, MAVROGIANNI VS, CAROPRESE MC, FTHENAKIS GC (2022) High milk somatic cell counts and increased Teladorsagia burdens overshadow non-infection-related factors as predictors of fat and protein content of bulk-tank raw milk in sheep and goat farms. Foods 11:443.

LIANOU DT, MICHAEL CK, PETINAKI E, MAVROGIANNI VS, FTHENAKIS GC (2022) Αdministration of vaccines in dairy sheep and goat farms: patterns of vaccination, associations with health and production parameters, predictors. Vaccines 10:1372.

LIANOU DT, PETINAKI E, MICHAEL CK, SKOULAKIS A, CRIPPS PJ, KATSAROU EI, PAPADOPOULOS E, BILLINIS C, KATSAFADOU AI, MAVROGIANNI VS, CAROPRESE M, FTHENAKIS GC (2022) Zoonotic problems reported by sheep and goat farmers and factors potentially contributing to the occurrence of brucellosis among them. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19:10372.

LIANOU DT, SKOULAKIS A, MICHAEL CK, KATSAROU EI, CHATZOPOULOS DC, SOLOMAKOS N, TSILIPOUNIDAKI K, FLOROU Z, CRIPPS PJ, KATSAFADOU AI, VASILEIOU NGC, DIMOVELI KS, BOURGANOU MV, LIAGKA DV, PAPATSIROS VG, KONTOU PI, MAVROGIANNI VS, CAROPRESE M, PETINAKI E, FTHENAKIS GC (2022). Isolation of Listeria ivanovii from bulk-tank milk of sheep and goat farms – from clinical work to bioinformatics studies: prevalence, association with milk quality, antibiotic susceptibility, predictors, whole genome sequence and phylogenetic relationships. Biology 11:871.

TSILIPOUNIDAKI K, FLOROU Z, LIANOU DT, MICHAEL CK, KATSAROU EI, SKOULAKIS A, FTHENAKIS GC, PETINAKI E (2022) Detection of zoonotic gastrointestinal pathogens in dairy sheep and goats by using FilmArray® multiplex‐PCR technology. Microorganisms 10:714.