Always patient and willing to help.
George Belibasakis is Honorary Professor in the Discipline of Periodontics at the School of Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago. He served as Sir Thomas Kay Sidey Visiting Professor at the University of Otago Faculty of Dentistry. Belibasakis earned his degree in Dentistry from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1999, a PhD in Oral Microbiology from Umeå University, Sweden in 2004, a clinical MSc in Periodontology from Queen Mary University of London, UK in 2009, a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice from Queen Mary University of London in 2009, Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, UK, and Habilitation (Docentur) in Oral Microbiology and Immunology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2012. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at King’s College London, UK.
Currently, Belibasakis is Professor of Clinical Oral Infection Biology, Head of the Division of Oral Health and Periodontics, and Head of Research at the Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. He previously served as Head of the Division of Cariology and Endodontics from 2016 to 2017, Head of the Division of Oral Diseases from 2017 to 2023, and Head of International Affairs from 2023 to 2024. His research focuses on microbial ecology and host environment of the oral cavity, dynamic changes leading to common oral diseases, mechanistic links between oral health and systemic conditions, and translation of laboratory findings into clinical applications such as disease biomarkers and novel chairside diagnostic utilities. He is Principal Investigator of the DIAGORAS EU Horizon 2020 Consortium (2015-2019) and co-Principal Investigator of the DELIVER Horizon Europe Consortium (2022-2026). Belibasakis is President-elect of the Periodontal Research Group and elected Vice-president of the International Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (IADR). Key publications include "Periodontal microbiology and microbial etiology of periodontal diseases: Historical concepts and contemporary perspectives" (2023), "Microbial Community-Driven Etiopathogenesis of Peri-Implantitis" (2020), "Filifactor alocis FtxA blocks inflammation and apoptosis pathways in monocytic cells" (2026), "Saliva Versus All-Site Microbiome and Proteome Mapping in Periodontitis" (2025), and "Systemic antibiotics in the surgical treatment of peri-implantitis: A randomized placebo-controlled trial" (2024). His research has garnered over 15,433 citations on Google Scholar, demonstrating substantial impact in periodontology, periodontal diseases, oral infections, and oral microbiology.
