Georgios Papanikolaou a famous Greek doctor

                                                                                                                    written by Anna
Georgios Papanikolaou (1883-1962) is a famous doctor and biologist, professor of medicine at Cornell University in New York and inventor of the homonymous cytology method for early diagnosis of cervical cancer.

At a 1928 medical conference in Battle Creek, Michigan, Papanikolaou introduced his low-cost, easily performed screening test for early detection of cancerous and precancerous cells. The test called Papanicolaou test, commonly known as the Pap smear or Pap test, is used worldwide for the detection and prevention of cervical cancer and other cytologic diseases of the female reproductive system.

Georgios Papanikolaou was born in the Greek island of Evia. He finished the Athens Medical School and from 1907 until 1910 he continued his studies in Germany. In 1912 he took part in the Balkan Wars as a reserve army assistant surgeon and then he went to the USA, where he was appointed as an assistant at the Pathology Department of  New York Hospital. Afterwards, he went to Cornell University as an assistant in the anatomy lab, where he began his research. In 1957 he became a professor emeritus and in 1961 director of the Cancer Research Center of Miami, which was named after him.