I was born and raised in Heraklion, Greece, received my MD from the medical school of the University of Crete receiving two times the prize for the best academic achievement in the Faculty of Medicine. I completed the Master in Medical Neurosciences of the University of Crete with the Scholarship ‘Christina Spyraki’ for the best academic achievement in the first year of the Master’s degree in Medical Neurosciences. During my second year of the master’s degree, I completed my Master Thesis at the Cecilie-Vogt Clinic for Neurology, Neurosciences Research Center (NWFZ), Institute of Neuroimmunology Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany on novel neuroimmunological therapies on the animal model of multiple sclerosis.
I continued my clinical career as a junior consultant in Psychiatry and Internal Medicine in Leros and Ierapetra, Greece and moved to Germany, University Hospital St Josef in Bochum, one of the major neuroimmunological centers in Germany under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Ralf Gold to complete my Neurology Residency and further training in basic translational and clinical research.
During the next sixteen years in Germany, I received training on vascular neurology and vascular ultrasound beginning as a Head / senior consultant at the Comprehensive Stroke Center of St Josef Hospital (Neurovascular Care Network Nordrhein Westfalen), whereas I continued as the Head / senior consultant of the inpatient clinic for multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunological diseases of the central nervous system and during the last eight years in Germany as the Head of the outpatient and inpatient clinic for neuroinflammatory and degenerative diseases of the peripheral nervous system and received board certification on nerve conduction studies / EMG. From 2019 and until 2026 I served as the Managing and later the Leading Director of the neurological department in St Josef Hospital also coordinating the educational neurological program of the medical students and residents. At this time, I participated as a principal investigator or co-investigator in more that 20 international clinical studies on multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and immune-mediated neuropathies including the first CAR-T cells treatment program in Germany.
My clinical research focuses on diseases of the peripheral nervous system, neuromuscular imaging strategies such as nerve ultrasound, MR-Neurography and corneal confocal microscopy and in 2019 I co-founded and was head of the Immune-mediated Neuropathies Biobanking and Data Registry (INHIBIT) and I supervised nineteen medical doctorate degrees in Ruhr University Bochum. In 2021 I co-founded and I am currently (2026) the head of the German Neuritis Network with participation of more than 20 centers in Germany, offering innovative biomarker research, diagnostic methods, and treatment for patients with immune-mediated neuropathies. In this context I coordinated the scientific board for the German guidelines for immune-mediated neuropathies, diagnosis and treatment together with Prof. Claudia Sommer, University Clinic Würzburg and currently (2026) I am member of the Scientific Board for the German Guidelines for pregnancy, breastfeeding and fertility for patients with neuroimmunological diseases.
Regarding basic research I completed my PhD in the Ruhr University of Bochum receiving the Hermann-Fabry Förderpreis (first prize of the medical society Bochum for the medical dissertation) and continued as the Head of the basic neuroimmunological research laboratory for polyneuropathies establishing a variety of in vivo and in vitro research methods and concepts (experimental autoimmune neuritis, animal electrophysiological studies, Schwann cell and dorsal root ganglia cultures, small fiber investigation of the cornea, skin and intestine, small chain fatty acid research, immune-check point physiology with my former PhD student Dr Sgodzai – supervision of three PhD and sixteen Master students from the department of Biology and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum). In 2026 I was appointed Professor of Neurology in Ruhr-University Bochum.

https://www.klinikum-bochum.de/fachbereiche/neurologie/zentren-labore/forschungszentrum-neuroimmunologisches.html

https://www.igsn.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/people/faculty-members/kalliopi-pitarokoili/


I have >110 peer-reviewed publications in international journals with >3500 citations (H-index 28) and co-authored chapters for five German medical books. I am a member in ten German, Greek, European and International neurological / neuroimmunological organisations. In 21.05.26 I returned to my birthplace Heraklion and the University of Crete, wishing to contribute to the neurological / neuroimmunological field of Greece.