Dr Darlis was born on the island of Lesvos and raised in Athens, Greece. He graduated from the Medical School of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He completed his residency in Orthopaedics at the University Hospital of Ioannina, Greece and presented his doctoral thesis on flexor tendon reconstruction. Having been awarded two prestigious scholarships, he went on to complete a 2-year Clinical Fellowship In Hand, Upper Extremity Surgery and Reconstructive Microsurgery in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Dr Darlis has been in private practice in Athens, Greece since 2006 as an exclusively Upper Extremity Surgeon. He joined the Upper Extremity & Microsurgery service of the Metropolitan Hospital, one of the largest private hospitals in Athens, in 2013, becoming Director in 2020.

Dr Darlis specializes in wrist and elbow arthroscopy and peripheral nerve surgery. He has several publications in those fields and has extensive experience in wet lab training in open, microsurgical and arthroscopic techniques. Dr Darlis maintains an active interest in education and academics, lecturing frequently both nationally and internationally. He has been elected President of the Hellenic Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery (2021) and President of the Hellenic Society for Surgery of the Hand (2024).

Upper Extremity Surgery/ Sports Medicine/ Reconstructive Microsurgery

Dr Darlis covers the whole spectrum of Shoulder, Elbow and Hand Surgery both in trauma and elective surgery. The disorders he treats range from fractures and dislocations to ligament injuries and overuse syndromes to arthritis and adult reconstruction.

Dr Darlis specializes in wrist arthroscopy, a minimally invasive method to diagnose and treat disorders of the wrist. He has several publications in this field and is the first Greek Member of the European Wrist Arthroscopy Society (GEAP/EWAS). He is frequently invited to give lectures on this subject in both national and international congresses. Dr Darlis was the first to perform an all arthroscopic TFCC repair in Greece. His expertise together with the state-of-the-art equipment in Metropolitan Hospital allows him to treat both simple and complex disorders of the wrist.

Dr Darlis is an International Member of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (www.assh.org). He was inducted into ASSH in September of 2011 in an official ceremony in Las Vegas, NV during its annual conference. He is only the third Greek Hand Surgeon to receive this privilege in the Society’s 65 year old history. Dr Darlis maintains strong ties with the Pittsburgh Hand Surgery Community through the yearly meetings of the Greek Pittsburgh Hand Alumni Members.

Dr Darlis was born in the island of Lesvos, Greece and raised in Athens, Greece. He has both Greek and Australian citizenships by birth. He graduated from the Medical School of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1994 with Honors and he is also licensed by the General Medical Council (UK).

He completed a five-year residency in Orthopaedics at the University Hospital of Ioannina, Greece from 1998 to 2003. His doctoral thesis on flexor tendon reconstruction using silicon rods was presented to and approved by the University of Ioannina, Greece and was rated “excellent”. It was also published in the prestigious Journal of Hand Surgery (American edition) and the Journal of Paediatric Orthopaedics (American Volume), constituting the first contributions ever to those journals by a Greek institution.

The volume of his scientific and clinical work earned him two prestigious scholarships from Greece which permitted him to pursue a post-graduate training in the US. He was trained in the Upper Extremity and Microsurgery Fellowship Program of Allegheny General Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA (affiliated with Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA) under Prof Dean G. Sotereanos for a total of 2 years as a Clinical and Research Fellow. He entered this program after obtaining a Η1-Β visa as an internationally renowned scientist and an Institutional License from the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine and had full privileges in the operating room. He obtained hand-on experience in most of the contemporary procedures in open and arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder, elbow and hand and has been accepted as an International Member with the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH), being only the third Greek national member. He was also the recipient of a research grant from the industry.

During the past 10 years he contributed as an author in over 100 scientific papers; 60 of those papers were presented in international congresses. He has published 10 book chapters and 45 international papers and abstracts and he is listed as first or second author in most of his scientific work.

MEMBERSHIPS

• American Society for Surgery of the Hand ( id:137399)
• European Wrist Arthroscopy Society (EWAS/GEAP)
• Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine (Institutional Licence No LT000548)
• Medical Association of Piraeus, Greece
• General Medical Council – United Kingdom (Reg. No. 4491031)
• European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ΕSSKA)
• Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (HAOST)
• Hellenic Hand & Upper Extremity Surgery Society
• Hellenic Foundation of Osteoporosis (ELIOS)
• Medicins sans Frontières, Hellenic Department

Wrist arthroscopy

Dr Darlis specializes in wrist arthroscopy, a minimally invasive method to diagnose and treat disorders of the wrist. He has several publications in this field and is the first Greek Member of the European Wrist Arthroscopy Society (GEAP/EWAS). He is frequently invited to give lectures on this subject in both national and international congresses. Dr Darlis was the first to perform an all arthroscopic TFCC repair in Greece. His expertise together with the state-of-the-art equipment in Metropolitan Hospital allows him to treat both simple and complex disorders of the wrist.

High Resolution Ultrasound (HRUS): Diagnosis and in-office procedures.

Dr Darlis uses a bedside high resolution ultrasound (12 MHz HRUS- General Electric) in his medical practice for both diagnosis and ultrasound assisted office procedures. HRUS is extremely helpful in the diagnosis disorders of shoulder (rotator cuff tears, instability), elbow, knee, hip and wrist. It has become “the stethoscope” of the orthopaedic surgeon in recent years. With over 10 years of experience in this modality, we can achieve a quicker and more accurate diagnosis in many disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

Team Doctor for the  “Icarus” sports club (basketball, tennis, ping-pong).

MD

1987 – 1994 : Medical Degree, Department of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (grade 8.0/10)

DOCTORAL THESIS

1999 – 2003​: “Two- stage secondary flexor tendon reconstruction in zone II of the hand using silicon rods and a “pedicled” FDS graft (Paneva technique)” presented to and approved by the University of Ioannina Medical School, Ioannina, Greece, rated “Excellent”.

SCHOLARSHIPS

2004​: University of Ioannina, Greece. “Ioannis Agnantis” Scholarship for Excellence in Orthopaedics.

2004​: Hellenic Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (HAOST), Scholarship for overseas post-graduate training

GRANTS

2005:​ Educational grant, $6000, DePuy- Mitek Inc. Norwood, MA, USA.  “Radiofrequency Probe application to the wrist joint“, as Primary Investigator.

Professional Experience

2013 – current: Hand and Upper Extremity Orthopaedic Surgeon, Upper Extremity and Reconstructive Microsurgery Department, Metropolitan Hospital, Athens, Greece.

9/2005 – 2013​: Hand and Upper Extremity Orthopaedic Surgeon (Private Practice in Athens, Greece, affiliated to Metropolitan Hospital and Bioclinic Athens Hospital, Athens, Greece).

2004 – 2005: Clinical & Research Fellow, Upper Extremity Surgery and Microsurgery, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburg, PA, USA. (Prof D.G. Sotereanos), after obtaining a Η1-Β visa as an internationally renowned scientist and an Institutional License from the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine.

2/2003​: Traveling Fellowship in Trauma, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, LA County+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Training

1998 – 2003​: 5-year residency in Orthopaedics, Orthopaedic Department, University Hospital of Ioannina, Greece. Fields of training: hand surgery and reconstructive microsurgery (Prof  P.N. Soucacos, Prof  A.E. Beris), arthroscopy and knee surgery (Prof A. Georgoulis), adult reconstruction (Prof Th. Xenakis), pediatric orthopaedics (Prof A.E. Beris), spine surgery (Prof P.N. Soucacos), orthopaedic trauma (Faculty).