Costas Christophi

Biography

Prof Christophi is a Biostatistician. His research group has worked on obesity and diabetes; smoking and health; and several other important topics in Public Health. He is an Assistant Professor at CUT and holds an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at Harvard. Working with collaborators from Harvard (including Professors David Christiani, Stefanos Kales and Christos Mantzoros) and from the Cyprus Ministry of Defense, his group initiated an epidemiological investigation of the health of young Cypriot males who were serving in the Cypriot armed forces. Their intent was to study the relationships between genetics, environment, metabolism and obesity in these young recruits. The team found that, when they joined the army, almost one third of these young men were either overweight or obese. Two years later when they left the army, their obesity had increased and their cardiovascular health had deteriorated. In a series of manuscripts, again working with Prof. Kales at Harvard, the team explored the roles of obesity, physical activity and measures of cardiorespiratory fitness as predictors of metabolic syndrome (i.e., diabetes) and cardiovascular disease risk among firefighters and other emergency workers.

Research Interest

Studies of tobacco smoking habits and determinants. Obesity and Diabetes.