Kountakis named honorary member of European Rhinologic Society

Dr. Stilianos Kountakis, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, has been named an honorary member of the European Rhinologic Society.

The honor is given to a select few members of the society, based on past significant contributions to the group and the wider specialty of rhinology, a medical field dedicated to the study and treatment of diseases of the nose and the paranasal sinuses. Kountakis, who also serves as Edward S. Porubsky Distinguished Chair in Otolaryngology, will receive the award Sept. 27 during the opening ceremonies of the group’s annual Congress.

In addition to serving as department chair, he also directs the AU Health System Georgia Sinus Center and MCG’s Rhinology-Skull Base/Sinus Surgery Fellowship Program. Kountakis came to the medical school in 2003 from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, where he was director of the Division of Rhinology and Virginia Sinus Center.

He has served as vice president of the Southern Section of the Triological Society, and as member of the Board of Directors and past president of the Georgia Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. In 2015, he was the recipient of that group’s Gerald S. Gussack Memorial Award for outstanding teaching in Otolaryngology. He is a past president of the American Rhinologic Society and received the society’s 2015 Golden Head Mirror Teaching Award for teaching and contributions to the society, and its 2017 Presidential Citation.

Kountakis has served as associate editor of the American Journal of Rhinology and Allergy, and the International Forum of Allergy &Rhinology. He is editor-in-chief of the first Encyclopedia of Otolaryngology-HNS and has edited 4 additional textbooks, the first and second editions of The Frontal Sinus, Rhinologic and Sleep Apnea Surgical Techniques, Revision Sinus Surgery and ENT- Core Knowledge. His research interests include pathophysiology and pathogenesis of sinusitis and polyps, medical and surgical outcomes and allergic fungal sinusitis. He is consistently ranked among America’s Best Doctors.

Kountakis received his medical degree from the University of Texas-Houston. He completed a general surgery residency at University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Hermann Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Memorial Hospital System of the Texas Heart Institute, and an otolaryngology residency at UT-Houston Medical School, Hermann Hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, and MacGregor Medical Associates. He completed a PhD at the University of Crete Medical School.