Episode #17
Dr Apostolos Safouris | Lessons From History
Dr Apostolos Safouris is a distinguished vascular neurologist, chair of the ESO Stroke Unit Certification Committee, and a 2024 recipient of the Spirit of Excellence Award. He’s also an avid reader who told us in the past that the great texts from the history of humanity provided context for his work. Shortly before this conversation took place in Maastricht, the setting for ESOC 2026, Apostolos announced on LinkedIn that having reached level 30 in Duolingo, he was now able to order food in Dutch. But then we discovered that learning Dutch in fact had nothing to do with eating in Maastricht. In a wide-ranging conversation, Apostolos talks about trading Athens for Brussels, parenting teenager daughter, and the fast fading honeymoon with AI. He says, “It’s great for systems of care and tools that can be used for the benefit of patients. But it's not going to replace everyone. People are investing money in AI for things that could be done for less money by people. “If we need people to get data points and upload them into the system in order to know how stroke patients are doing after intervention, do we really need an expensive system of AI just to have these data points inserted into the system? “Or do we just need a clinical advisor or someone to pick up the phone and ask them how they’re doing?” In this episode Living and working in Belgium Raising teenagers Progress towards Stroke Unit certification in Europe Why the process matters AI and the role of doctors Reducing noise in medicine Building stroke networks Some recommended reading Find out more about the Angels Initiative: www.angels-initiative.com
