Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Attica, Greece ____________________________________________________	M.D.	06/2017	Medicine
School of Chemical & Environmental Engineering,Technical University of Crete, Chania, Crete, Greece ____________________________________________________	Ph.D.	10/2024	Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology
Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA ____________________________________________________	Research Fellowship	ongoing	Retinal Diseases
BROAD Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA ____________________________________________________	Research Fellowship	ongoing	Rare Diseases; Inherited Proteinopathies

Dr. Dimitrios Ntentakis earned his M.D. from the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, graduating summa cum laude as the valedictorian of his class. During medical school, he completed sub-internships in Cardiovascular Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Trauma Surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS), where he received honors evaluations for his clinical performance. Additionally, he was selected by the Board of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) to serve as the Medical Student Executive for the ACS Greek Chapter, for three consecutive years.

Dr. Ntentakis went on to earn his Ph.D. from the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the Technical University of Crete, focussing on the biomedical applications of nanobubble technology as an enabling intervention for enhancing tissue regeneration in vivo. In January 2019, Dr. Ntentakis joined the Innes and Frederick Yeats Retina Research Laboratory at Mass Eye and Ear (MEE), affiliated with Harvard Ophthalmology (HMS). At MEE, he has contributed to basic science and clinical research projects investigating the pathophysiology and management of macular degeneration. Concurrently, he has been affiliated with the BROAD Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he has participated in collaborative multidisciplinary projects. The primary objective of his biomedical research at BROAD is to translate novel treatments from the field of rare kidney diseases, to inherited retinal disorders with a similar pathophysiology.

His work at Harvard Ophthalmology has been recognized with multiple local and international awards: including the ARVO Travel Grant Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in 2020, the Young Investigator and Leadership Award from the American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF) in 2021, for which he was the inaugural recipient, the first place at the NEOS Annual Hecht Poster Contest from the New England Ophthalmological Society (NEOS) in 2023, and the Outstanding Academic Performance Award from the New England Hellenic Medical and Dental Society (NEHMDS) in 2024.

Beyond academia, Dr. Ntentakis has founded "Summer Medical Landing," a national voluntary program that has provided critical healthcare services to refugees, locals, and visitors in Greece's most remote islands for 12 consecutive years. He has also served in combat divisions of the Hellenic Air Force.

• Ophthalmology
• Retinal Diseases
• Macular Degeneration
• Biomedical Engineering
• Biotechnology
• Tissue Regeneration, Guided
• Retinal Neuroprotection