Marilena Anastasaki holds a BSc in Mathematics (2012) and an MSc in Biostatistics (2015) from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2015, she completed an Erasmus internship at Julius Centre, University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands, focusing on the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases. Ever since, she has maintained a research collaboration with the Department of Social Medicine and the Laboratory of Health and Society at the School of Medicine, University of Crete (UoC), receiving her PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology in 2022. Her scientific interests span global health, implementation science, disease prevention, health inequalities, professional training and integrated care. Since May 2026, Marilena is a member of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Quality of Care and People-Centred Health Policies at UoC School of Medicine. Marilena has contributed to more than 25 European-funded research programs and an equal number of local projects. She received a research Stipend from the Faculty of Medicine, Linköping University, Sweden in 2018. Her teaching experience includes both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with contributions in courses of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Research Methodology and Public Health. She teaches in three Master’s programs at UoC School of Medicine and served as Visiting Lecturer at Frederick University, Cyprus, until 2025. In 2021, Marilena received an Academic Fellowship from the UoC School of Medicine for undergraduate teaching. She has co-authored more than 50 PubMed-indexed publications, a book chapter, 2 editorials and several review articles.