Irene Polykarpou

Irene Polykarpou serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the School of Sciences, European University of Cyprus. She concurrently holds leadership roles in professional organizations including Vice President of the Cyprus Society of Medical Physicists (SFIK) and Cyprus Association of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (CAMPBE), and represents Cyprus in the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP).

Her academic credentials include:

• PhD in Medical Imaging (2010-2014), King's College London
• Master's Degree in Medical Engineering and Physics (2008-2009), King's College London
• Physics Degree (2004-2008), University of Cyprus

Dr. Polykarpou's research centers on medical physics with emphasis on nuclear imaging modalities. She pioneers motion correction techniques for PET and SPECT to enhance tumor detection accuracy and myocardial perfusion quantification. Her work integrates computational modeling, phantom studies, and clinical validation to address respiratory artifacts and scatter effects, directly improving diagnostic reliability in oncology and cardiology applications.

Analysis of her publication record reveals consistent innovation in respiratory motion compensation across PET/SPECT systems, with growing focus on multimodal integration (PET/MR) and low-count statistics optimization. Her methodologies bridge engineering principles with clinical nuclear medicine practice, particularly in dynamic imaging scenarios requiring temporal resolution.

She actively contributes to major research initiatives including:

• Optimizing myocardial perfusion imaging under liver activity influence (2018-2022, Biomedical Research Foundation of Cyprus)
• PET-MR motion correction (Sublima FP7 EU project, 2013-2014)
• SPECT respiratory motion correction for cardiac imaging (2013-2014, Biomedical Research Foundation of Cyprus)
• MRI biomarkers for chronic kidney disease (COST Action, 2017)

Through EFOMP representation and CAMPBE leadership, she shapes European medical physics standards while organizing educational seminars. Her research infrastructure leverages hospital collaborations including German Oncology Center and St Thomas' Hospital for clinical validation of imaging protocols.