Dr. Vassiliki Koufopanou
When you meet scientists of the caliber of Dr. Vassiliki Koufopanou, you expect a person that is deeply immersed into their own world and will barely raise their head to talk to a common mortal.
Though that stereotype may be true for some of her colleagues, Dr. Koufopanou has managed to find balance as a complete person, scientist, woman, mother, spouse and friend with self-knowledge and self-criticism.
Initially, with a university degree from Athens and postgraduate studies, MSc and Ph.D., at McGill University, Canada, she started her academic career at the University of California and after a short stint at the Natural History Museum worked at Imperial College London from 1997 until today. Imperial College is ranked ninth in the world for its excellence and is known for science, technology and medicine.
With many years of research and numerousscientific publications in Evolutionary Biology and Genetics, she guides her students along the secret paths of research. With a wide smile and infinite modesty, she says that her colleagues do even more. She loves painting and admits that her favourite escape is art.
Dr. Vassiliki Koufopanou inspires us and makes us proud with her scientific presence in one of the most important universities in the world, competing with men that are more fully dedicated to science, while she tries to manage her time to be a wonderful and complete woman.
Dr. Vassiliki Koufopanou is a Research-fellow in Evolutionary Genetics at Imperial College London / Department of Life Sciences
