Maria Kokkinopoulou

I did my PhD in structural biology and my PostDoc in nano-medicine/targeted therapy at the Max Planck Institute. But instead of continuing down the academic route, I wanted to learn more about life outside of university. So I started working as a monitor for clinical trials in a big Clinical Research Organisation (CRO). It was a very interesting job, but after a few years I felt it was time to play a bigger part. I wanted to make use of my skills and to contribute to bringing the study forward. Then I saw an opening as a Project Manager at Antaros Medical and when I learned more about the company’s strong scientific focus, it woke up my inner scientist. I felt like the position connected everything I had done so far. Antaros Medical was the perfect match for me.

“With its strong scientific focus, Antaros Medical was the perfect match for me”

A good Project Manager believes in the team and trusts the process
In my role as Senior Project Manager, I try to really understand the need of the customer and set up the study accordingly. When you are enthusiastic about your work and have a deep understanding of how it is actually done, you coordinate and inspire your study team and trust that they will deliver as expected. If you cannot trust you need to control and micromanage, and that just causes stress for everyone. Because of my scientific background I get to take on studies where more scientific input is needed. For example, I worked on a couple of our own studies, where we develop new imaging methods that can support pharmaceutical companies in answering questions throughout the drug development process.

Fluent in Greek, German, English, Swedish and Sign language
I was born in Greece, but after my bachelor exam I went to Germany for my Masters and stayed for 12 years. Then I fell in love with a Swede and we moved to Sweden together. I find it is a lot easier to learn Swedish when you already know German as they are very similar languages. I want our daughter to grow up bilingual so I speak Greek to her. My husband’s parents are both deaf, so we also use a lot of sign language in the family, and I’m learning that too. And of course I speak a lot of English in my work. So sometimes there is a language overload and I start mixing it all up.

Love to travel above and below water
I really love to travel and I also try to do that with my daughter. During my parental leave, when she was very young, we went to Spain, Greece, and Thailand. She handled this very well so I was very proud of her. My husband and I are both big fans of water activities such as snorkelling. When I am underwater, I can focus on my breathing, and see all the beautiful and colourful fishes and corals. It calms my whole body and mind. I really love that feeling.