NEW YORK – The Hellenic Medical Society of New York (HMSNY) presented its Annual Scientific Symposium and Scholarship Award Ceremony at Lenox Hill Hospital’s Einhorn Auditorium in Manhattan on December 7 with Dr. Peter Diamandis, the accomplished engineer, physician, author, and entrepreneur, as the keynote speaker at the event.
Dr. Diamandis’ theme was “The Future of Medicine in the Era of Exponential Growth.” Fortune Magazine recently named Diamandis as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. The Founder and Executive Chairman of the X Prize Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions, he is also the Executive Founder and Director of Singularity University; a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world’s biggest challenges and build a better future for all.
As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital, and education. He is also co-founder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250 million investing in exponential technologies.
Diamandis is a New York Times bestselling author of two books: Abundance and BOLD. He earned degrees in Molecular Genetics and Aerospace Engineering from MIT and holds an MD from Harvard Medical School.
His favorite saying is “the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.”
Diamandis has expanded on his passion for space exploration which began in childhood with his interest in the Apollo missions and what he called the “space documentary Star Trek,” and led him to become a pioneer in providing civilians with the ultimate space travel experience. He is a proponent of breakthroughs in the energy sector and in utilizing exponential growth in technology to improve the global standard of living.
HMSNY President Dr. George Liakeas gave the welcoming remarks noting that the scholarships would be given out first followed by the keynote speaker. He thanked Dr. Stergios Stergiopoulos, Chair of the Scholarship Committee, the 82nd Gala co-chairs Dr. Eugenia Gianos, Dr. Jason Kofinas and his wife, Dr. Antonia Fthenakis Kofinas, and made special mention of Evangelia Tsavaris, HMSNY’s long-time administrator, who will be stepping down this year, after 18 years of dedicated service, noting that “Evangelia, without you this event and all of the other events of the Society would not have happened.”
Dr. Liakeas then acknowledged the students and scholarship recipients, “Without you, the future would not be clear, we recognize this, that’s one of the reasons we have such a distinguished speaker tonight, we hope that he moves you,” adding that “without you, we don’t know where the world would be, but with you, we are very hopeful and excited that our organization, the Hellenic Medical Society, will continue to thrive and be proud of its members.”
He thanked the doctors whose donations made the scholarships possible including Dr. Kofinas, Dr. Tambakis, Dr. Spyropoulos, Dr. Mezitis, and other donors.
Dr. Stergiopoulos and Dr. Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis handed out the scholarships to the deserving students. The High School Scholarship Recipients for the High School Essay Award were Valerie Deligiannis and Alexandros Kerwick, and the Merit Award went to Anastasia Kaliabakos. Postgraduate Research Awards went to Alexander Duke and Sofia Bakogianni. Research Grant Awards went to George Danias and Anastasios Mirisis, while the Medical Scholarship Awards went to Natalie Michelle Colaneri, Antonios Dimopoulos, Kellie Georgoudis, Irene Kintromelides, Christoforos Koumas, Vassiliki Papagermanos, Alicia Philippou, Alexis Tchaconas, George Titomihelakis, and Sophia Zigouras.
Dr. Chrisomalis-Valasiadis then introduced the keynote speaker, noting Diamandis’ many accomplishments and the fact that it took two years to finally have him speak at the symposium and honor him at the gala. Diamandis’ family comes from Lesbos, and his late father was a well-respected doctor and HMSNY member. Morals, hard work, and education were instilled in him during his formative years. He said that he was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor. Although he does not practice medicine, Diamandis is keen on revolutionizing the health care system and launched his seventh XPrize $10 million award to develop the first medical tricorder, the Qualcomm Tricorder named after the medical device from Star Trek, to be the first affordable, portable, wireless consumer-friendly medical diagnostic tool that Diamandis said “will diagnose at least 15 diseases using wireless sensors and digital imaging. Consumers will have access to their medical information literally at the palm of their hands.”
The media, Diamandis noted, presents an inaccurate view of the world, frightening people when we in fact are living in the most peaceful era in history. He highlighted his point with slides which showed how life expectancy continues to increase, literacy is the highest it has ever been, infant mortality rates are down, and the number of casualties of war is at a low point as well. Things are getting better and the development of technology is key to continuing the trend and making the world a better place for all.
A Q&A session followed the presentation in which some expressed their concerns about the future Diamandis described, though as he noted, many of the advancements in AI (Artificial Intelligence), driverless cars, and longevity, for example, are already here.
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