Mr Kostas Papagiannopoulos is a Senior Consultant Thoracic Surgeon at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds and at Spire Leeds Hospital.

Training and experience

Mr Papagiannopoulos qualified from Heraklion Medical School in Greece. He subsequently trained for eight years in the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town completing the Specialist exams in Cardiothoracic Surgery and an MD thesis in the surgical management of tuberculosis in a paediatric population.

Following further training as a qualified surgeon at the Royal Brompton Hospital in 1999 and in lung and esophageal surgery at the University of Leuven, Belgium in 2000, in 2001 Mr Papagiannopoulos was appointed Consultant Thoracic Surgeon in Leeds, a position he holds to this day.

Mr Papagiannopoulos developed the Thoracic service in Leeds by marketing and centralizing services from the Western Yorkshire area. As a result of this, the Department has grown from a service Provider of 625,000 population to a Regional centre serving 2.5 million citizens and receiving referrals from over 10 Hospitals in the region.

Mr Papagiannopoulos co-ordinated the transfer of the Department from Leeds General Infirmary to St James’s University Hospital in 2005, with amalgamation of services from Bradford and Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust and the subsequent transfer of the service in the St. James’s Institute of Oncology in 2008, offering a full range of specialist treatments for benign and malignant diseases of the chest.

As an early adopter of new technology and techniques, Mr Papagiannopoulos has established minimally invasive treatment for benign and malignant diseases of the lung and airway, atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat), emphysema and metastatic malignant diseases of the lung such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer and sarcomas.

All treatments provided by Mr Papagiannopoulos are offered through NICE guidelines and National and International protocols following discussions at 6 established Multidisciplinary Team meetings.

Positions held in National and International Organisations

• Clinical Director Thoracic Surgery Leeds 2006 - 2011
• Chair Thoracic Group, Yorkshire Cancer Network UK 2006 - 2008
• Councilor European Society of Thoracic Surgeons 2008 - 2009
• Treasurer European Society of Thoracic Surgeons 2009 - present
• ESTS Annual Meeting Committee
• ESTS School of Thoracic Surgery Committee
• ESTS Textbook Committee
• Leuven 2007 Abstract Reviewers
• Bologna 2008 Abstract Reviewers
• Krakow 2009 Abstract Reviewers
• Valladolid 2010 Abstract Reviewers
• Marseille 2011 Abstract Reviewers
• Essen 2012 Abstract Reviewers

Teaching commitments

• Bedside teaching of undergraduate students.
• SSC literature review tutor for undergraduate students.
• Assigned Educational Supervisor of FY and ST trainees.
• Lecturer at Yorkshire School of Surgery.
• Faculty member European School of Thoracic Surgery
• Scientific Program committee member European Society of Thoracic Surgeons