Vrontakis-lautatzis, Maria

Biography

Dr. Vrontakis was born in Athens Greece, and completed her medical training at the University of Athens followed by one year rural service in Kalamata General Hospital, Peloponnese, Greece. She then entered the residency program in internal medicine at Alexandra Hospital, University of Athens, followed by specialization in Endocrinology. She received her license to practice endocrinology in Athens, Greece in January 1982. In December 1982 she completed her PhD in Endocrinology at the medical school of the University of Athens under the supervision of Drs. Koutras and Souvatzoglou and continued with postdoctoral training in molecular endocrinology at Cornel University Medical School in New York for two years under the supervision of Dr. Ione Kourides. She came to the University of Manitoba in 1984 as a clinical and research fellow in endocrinology at Dr. Friesen’s laboratory. In 1993 she passed her Medical Council of Canada Qualification Exams and then in 1994, was recruited to the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science as an Associate Professor.

Research Interest

Since my discovery and sequence of the rat galanin gene as an estrogen induced neuroendocrine peptide in the pituitary, the focus on my research has been on the regulatory roles of galanin.