Apostolos Georgopoulos Awarded Distinguished Service Medal

The University of Minnesota Medical School is proud to announce Apostolos Georgopoulos, M.D., Ph.D. has been awarded the American Legion Distinguished Service Medal. According to The American Legion, the award recognizes “outstanding service to the nation,” and Dr. Georgopoulos was selected for his decades of research into Gulf War Illness and traumatic brain injuries common among veterans. He received the honor on August 22 at the organization’s national convention in Reno, Nevada. Reacting to his award, Dr. Georgopoulous stated: “I’m here with rays of hope for successful treating … Gulf War Illness, a very complex and debilitating disease that affects the veterans that served in the Persian (Gulf).”

The American Legion honor comes just months after The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) awarded Georgopoulos with the 2017 Immigrant of Distinction Award for his significant contributions to medicine.

Dr. Georgopoulos joined the University of Minnesota in 1991 and is currently a professor of neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry in the Medical School's department of neuroscience. He is also the director of the University's Center for Cognitive Sciences and one of the world's leading authorities on neural mechanisms underlying movement.