Emmanouil Theophilos Dermitzakis (born April 3, 1972) is a Greek human geneticist and professor in the Department of Genetic Medicine and Development at the University of Geneva, where he is also Director of the Health 2030 Genome Center. He is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher and an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He is a member of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, where his research group is focused on the genetics and genomics of complex traits in humans. He has joined GlaxoSmithKline as Vice President, Computational Biology in R&D. Early years Dermitzakis graduated from High School in Pagrati, Athens. His dream of becoming a geneticist was spurred by two pages on genetic engineering in a Biology book in the school curriculum. His father was a physician and former classmate of professor Fotis Kafatos, who inspired him to later enter the field of research. Education Dermitzakis completed his graduate degree in Biology at the University of Crete in 1995 and then earned a Master of Science at the same University in 1997. During an interview he confessed that he did not achieve a high score in his first degree, nevertheless his drive for research helped him pursue doctoral studies in the USA. He completed his doctoral thesis in the evolution of components of gene regulation in Drosophila and mammals at Penn State University in 2001. He then completed postdoctoral studies at the Medical School of the University of Geneva in 2004 with his research on comparative genome analysis and the functional characterization of conserved non-genic elements. Career After completing his studies Dermitzakis moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked as a group leader and member of the academic council at the Wellcome Sanger Institute from 2004 to 2009. He continued his research career in Switzerland, as Professor of Genetics in the Department of Genetic Medicine and Development at the University of Geneva and in research centres including Frontiers in Genetics and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics in Geneva. He has served as Director of the Health 2030 Genome Center and is a member of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens in Greece. In November 2019 he was appointed chairman of the Greek National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation, however a few months later he resigned, having said that his role on the council was merely decorative. In October 2020 he was appointed Director