Education

Anatomic Pathology Residency, Athens, Greece
PhD, Medical School, University of Athens, Greece
MD, Medical School, University of Athens, Greece
BS, Dept. of Biology, University of Athens, Greece

Training

Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston
Tulane University Medical School, Dept. of Medicine, and VA Medical Center, Endocrine, Polypeptide and Cancer Institute, New Orleans

Biography/Areas of Expertise

Dr. Ioulia Chatzistamou is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia (USC-SOM), where she serves as a pathologist, educator, mentor, and academic leader. She earned her M.D. from the University of Athens and completed a Ph.D. on the endocrine regulation of cancer, focusing on how growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and related pathways contribute to hormonal carcinogenesis in gynecologic neoplasms. In addition to residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Aretaieion University Hospital, she pursued research at Tulane University under Nobel Laureate Dr. Andrew V. Schally and pathology training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Before joining USC, she served as Lecturer and later Assistant Professor of Histopathology at the University of Athens School of Dentistry, where she was the pathologist in charge of the Oral Pathology Service.

At USC, Dr. Chatzistamou contributes to medical and graduate education. She directs the Endocrine & Reproductive System Block for second-year medical students, the Health Professional Sciences Concentration of the Master’s Program, and the Histopathology Service of the Peromyscus Genetic Stock Center. She developed and is the course director of two graduate courses, PATH 711: Experimental Pathology and BMSC 703: Communication Skills for Pre-Health Professionals, teaches across multiple M2 blocks, graduate courses, and facilitates pathology small-group sessions. She is consistently recognized for her teaching excellence through strong student and peer evaluations.  

Dr. Chatzistamou is committed to advancing education through innovation, with a particular interest in technology-enhanced learning. She is a Harvard Macy Institute Scholar with formal training through the “Transforming Your Teaching Using Technology” program and holds an AI Pathfinder certification from Auburn University. Her educational work focuses on improving learner engagement, supporting clinical reasoning, and developing AI-augmented tools for pathology and self-directed learning.

Beyond teaching, Dr. Chatzistamou plays an active role in academic service and leadership. She serves as the professional-track representative for USCSOM in the Faculty Senate and is a member of the Curriculum Committee and the Biomedical Graduate Program Committee. She has previously served on the Admissions Committee, LCME working groups, and numerous institutional ad hoc committees. Her mentorship spans graduate and medical students, including aspiring physician-scientists pursuing careers in academic medicine.

A productive and collaborative researcher, Dr. Chatzistamou has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature Aging, Nature Communications, Oncogene, and PNAS. She contributes her pathology expertise to major programs in cancer biology, immune regulation, aging, epigenetics, gut immunology, Peromyscus-based disease models, and medical education. She is continuously funded as a co-principal investigator or co-investigator on NIH and NSF grants, is a co-inventor on U.S. patents, and maintains strong collaborative partnerships across USC and national institutions. She also serves on editorial boards and reviews manuscripts for scientific journals as well as grant proposals for NIH and scientific foundations. Dr. Chatzistamou participates in national and international scientific and medical education organizations and presents her work at regional, national, and international conferences. Her recent scholarly work includes publications on medical education reform (Does medical education require radical change? J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2024) and educator wellness (Medical Educator Burnout: A Perspective of an Academic Pathologist, The Pathologist, 2025).

Publications

Complete List of Dr. Chatzistamou’s Published Work