Panayotis Pantazis

Takis Pantazis received his formal education in Greece and the United States. He received a Diploma in the Division of Natural Sciences, University of Athens, Greece and a Ph.D. in Biology from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland in 1977. His professional scientific career spanned some 30 years with him gaining international recognition in the fields of cell biology, biochemistry, and cancer biology. His postgraduate doctoral training initially started in 1977 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD in the Laboratories of Tumor Cell Biology and Viral Genetics and then in the Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology. He then took a position at the Linus Pauling Institute, Palo Alto in 1981. In 1986 Takis moved to the Center for Blood Research at Harvard University as an Investigator and later a faculty member at the Harvard AIDS Institute. In 1990 he left to become Associate Director and Head of the Cell Biology/Biochemistry group at the Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research in Houston, TX. From 1998-2005 Takis was a Research Professor at Brown University and the University of Miami in the Departments of Biology, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Also during 2003-2007 he served as Interim Director, Division of Pharmacology-Pharmacotechnology for the Foundation of Biomedical Research, Academy of Athens, Greece. During the latter part of his career, Takis moved to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in 2005 as Professor of Research in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Takis retired in 2007 with advancing health issues that required more of his full time personal attention. During the course of Dr. Pantazis' illustrious 30 year career, there were many notable honors and awards. These include a Special Investigator Fellowship, University of Lund, Sweden, UN Development Program award, served as a member of several scientific editorial journal review boards, was a member of the organizing committee for the "First International Congress on Pancreatic Cancer", Member of NIH/NIDR Scientific Study Section and was a member of the organizing committee on "New Anticancer Drugs". Athens, Greece. In addition, Takis received a patent for "A method for treating cancer with water-insoluble S-camptothecin derivatives", authored more than 130 refereed scientific publications, book chapters and invited review articles. He was also successful in being awarded US federal agency and private cancer research foundation grant support in support of his scientific endeavors. Takis will be remembered not only by his scientific accomplishments but also by his quick wit, sense of humor and love of family, many friends and colleagues. He is survived by his wife of 36 years, Gloria and her mother, Maria, children, Alexis, Christina and Sophia, grandchildren, Isabella and Cameron, his mother, Sophia Theodoridou of Greece, his sister, Maro Angelopoulou, his nieces Sophia and Theoni and nephew Nikolas Angelopoulos and many cousins and other extended family. An evening prayer service will be at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday and a Memorial Mass will be at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, both at St. Eugene Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St. Eugene Building Fund, 2400 W. Hefner Rd., OKC, OK 73120.