Jannis Papazoglou

Jannis Papazoglou is a 5th year German medical student with Greek roots and current President of the European Medical Students’Association (EMSA). In the last three years he has been one of the most active medical students in European Health Policy representing the opinion and voice of Europe's medical students’ towards the EU institutions, health NGOs and other stakeholders. Last year he co-hosted a panel debate in Brussels with MEP Bogdan Wenta and Dr Roberto Bertolini (WHO) and he worked in Brussels as the EMSA intern to the CPME (Standing Committee of European Doctors). Besides the external representation, in terms of health policy he is most interested in questions concerning Medical Education, inter professional collaboration, free trade agreements and gender medicine. 

changes you as a person,lets you improve on both soft skills and also explore topics that you would have never got in contact with outside medical school and meet fascinating people from all corners of the world. 

I remember Jannis Papazoglu as the gentlemen who started off the proceedings of the assembly with a powerful and inspiring opening speech. He spoke eloquently about the role of EMSAites and set the platform for a power packed start for all participants. I would often see him rushing back and forth between workshops and clearly showed the signs of an extremely committed  and dedicated  leader.

I had the privilege of interviewing the Jannis Papazoglu the President of EMSA at the assembly and this is what he had to say.

What are the three words/ attributes that would describe you
Good one, I asked some friends, here are what they came up with:  Stubborn, loyal, enthusiastic

What has the EMSA Tbilisi experience been to you?
To be honest, I was absolutely overwhelmed with the hospitality and kindness of Georgia and especially of our members. We are very proud of the work of the organizing committee and very happy with the General Assembly they organised and hosted for us.

What would you have done if not for Medicine? 
I actually did study business law before medicine. But for me the idea to study and practice medicine was always there somewhere in the background and in the end it proved to resilient for me to not at least try.

Do you possess any special talents/ skills that you would want to talk to us about? 
I am not sure if I have any outstanding talents. In general, I enjoy sports, in my youth I was active in soccer and table tennis, in the last years I found a lot of joy in running and have finished two marathons. 

What influences/ motivates you to be who you are and what you do for EMSA?

Being active in such an association as EMSA is a truly life changing experience. I give a lot of my time for EMSA, especially travels to meetings of partner organisation or to meet with representatives of the European Institutions is quite consuming. But one gets so much back in return, it really changes you as a person,lets you improve on both soft skills and also explore topics that you would have never got in contact with outside medical school and meet fascinating people from all corners of the world. 

What would you look back and reflect upon at EMSA 16 SA

From the perspective of the board and the association it was a really productive meeting. Especially important was the revision of the EMSA vision and mission statement that we as an organisation adopted and also the reform of our policy statements and the structure of the board. I have heard only good feedback form participants, be it about educational program, plenaries, organizing committee or Georgia in general.

What was Georgia to you ?

Splendid food, new friendships, EMSA family.