Dr. Athanassios (Ethan) Argiris is an internationally recognized medical oncologist and clinical researcher with expertise in the evaluation and treatment of patients with head and neck and lung cancers. He has served in several leadership positions in academic institutions in the USA. In 2014, he moved back to his home country to join the medical staff of Hygeia hospital in Athens, Greece. He has been elected Visiting Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Crete and is currently a Professor of Medical Oncology in the Department of Medical Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.
Dr. Argiris’ research has focused on the development of novel therapeutics in early stage and advanced head and neck and thoracic malignancies, including combined modality regimens, that incorporate molecularly targeted agents.
Dr. Argiris earned his medical degree at the University of Athens Medical School. He trained in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and completed his medical oncology training at Yale University. In 2000, he received a Young Investigator Scholar Award for Clinical/Translational Research by the American Association for Cancer Research. From 2000-2005, Dr. Argiris was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, where he led the clinical research efforts in aerodigestive malignancies at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Subsequently, from 2005-2011 he was on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he was promoted to Professor of Medicine in 2009. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Argiris served as co-Leader of the Head and Neck Cancer and the Lung and Thoracic Malignancies Programs of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and Medical Director of the Aerodigestive Cancers Program in the Division of Hematology-Oncology, and held leadership roles in the Head and Neck Cancer and Lung Cancer Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) of UPCI. More recently, from 2011 to 2013 he was a Professor of Medicine and Chief of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the holder of the A.B. Alexander Distinguished Chair in Oncology as well as the Associate Director for Clinical Research and Leader of the Head & Neck and Thoracic Oncology Research at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC), a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.
Dr. Argiris is a member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology group (ECOG) Head and Neck and Thoracic Core Committees as well as the Lung Committee of SWOG and has been the study chair of multiple cooperative group trials, including two phase III clinical trials in head and cancer (E1302 and E1305) . Dr. Argiris was the recipient of the 2009 ECOG Research and Education Young Investigator Award. He also serves as a member of the Previously-Untreated Locally Advanced Task Force of the NCI Head and Neck Steering Committee. Dr. Argiris has authored more than 200 articles, abstracts and book chapters, is an Associate Editor for Head and Neck, has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Forum of Clinical Oncology, Anticancer Research and the Open Lung Cancer Journal, and elected Fellow of the American College of Physicians.