John Ioannidis - Biography#

John Ioannidis was born in New York City (1965) and raised in Athens. Valedictorian (1984), Athens College; National Award, Greek Mathematical Society (1984); MD (top rank of medical school class) from National University of Athens (1990); also received DSc in biopathology from the same institution. Trained at Harvard and Tufts (internal medicine, Infectious diseases), then held positions at NIH, Johns Hopkins, Tufts. Chaired the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina Medical School (1999 - 2010), also holding adjunct professor positions at Harvard, Tufts, and Imperial College. Moved to Stanford in 2010, initially as Director/C.F. Rehnborg Chair at Stanford Prevention Research Center, then diversified with appointments in 4 departments and 8 centers/institutes at Stanford. Launched the PhD program in Epidemiology & Clinical Research and the MS program in Community Health & Prevention Research. Launched Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford in 2014. NCI/NIH Senior Advisor on Knowledge Integration (2012-6). President (2023-4), Association of American Physicians. President, Society for Research Synthesis Methodology. Editorial board of many leading journals (including PLoS Medicine, Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, JNCI) and Editor-in-Chief of European Journal of Clinical Investigation (2010 - 2019). Delivered ~700 invited and honorary lectures. Recipient of many awards (e.g. European Award for Excellence in Clinical Science [2007], Medal for Distinguished Service, Teachers College, Columbia U [2015], Chanchlani Global Health Award [2017], Epiphany Science Courage Award [2018], Einstein fellow [2018], Gordon award [2019], Albert Stuyvenberg Medal (2021), Harwood Prize [2022], Founders' Medal for Lifetime Contributions to Meta-science [2024], Outstanding Reproducibility in Science award [2025]). Inducted in Association of American Physicians (2009), European Academy of Cancer Sciences (2010) American Epidemiological Society (2015), European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2015), National Academy of Medicine (2018), Accademia delle Scienze (Bologna) (2021), Academia Europaea (2026). Honorary titles: FORTH (2014), Ioannina (2015); honorary doctorates: Rotterdam (2015), Athens (2017), Tilburg (2019), Edinburgh (2021), Thessaloniki (2023), McMaster (/2024), Woxsen (2025). Multiple honorary lectureships/visiting professorships. The PLoS Medicine paper on “Why most published research findings are false” is the most-accessed article in the history of Public Library of Science (>3 million hits). Author of 10 literary books (three shortlisted for best book of the year Anagnostis awards in Greece), 4 libretti of operas and one oratorio. Brave Thinker scientist for 2010 per Atlantic, “may be one of the most influential scientists alive”. Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate) in Clinical Medicine, Social Sciences and Psychiatry/Psychology. h=285 (Google Scholar, 4/2026), current citation rate: >6,000 new citations per month (among the 6 scientists worldwide who are currently the most commonly cited).