The Greek Who Brought Medical Animation to the Country

Greece’s budding medical animation field owes its existence to Manolis Babatsikos.

At a time when many Greeks were leaving the country for more opportunities, the 33-year-old left his job abroad at entertainment giant Warner Bros. and moved back home in 2017.

He did so in order to follow his dream of founding Greece’s first medical animation company, called 3DMedWorld, “despite the difficult circumstances” in the country, he says.

Babatsikos started his firm, which collaborates with medical organizations in both Greece and abroad, in the hopes of fostering an environment where skilled Greeks could shine without having to leave their country to find such opportunities.

In an interview with AMNA, Babatsikos stated that his company, based in Thessaloniki, is the only one in the field in Greece.

Babatsikos even lamented at the fact that he has no competition, as medical animation is a great field in which to showcase the talent of Greece’s skilled workforce.

The science of medical animation

Utilizing the skills he honed while creating hit video games, Babatsikos digitally models surgeries, medical procedures, and processes that occur in the body at a microscopic level with stunning realism, creating films used frequently in education and training.

Not only are the animations visually realistic, but they are all also based on scientific scenarios, crafted and developed with the help of doctors and experts in the field of medicine.

Medical animation is also used in conjunction with cutting-edge technology in the field, such as virtual reality, helping future medical professionals work with new devices and procedures virtually — before treating actual patients.

Speaking with AMNA, Babatsikos stressed that including animation into the medical curriculum helps students obtain more direct experience in the field without the risk of making serious mistakes on real patients.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, medical animation has also played a significant role in education about the nature of the virus, how it is transmitted, and how to prevent its spread.

Using scientific research about the virus, medical animators can model how Covid-19 spreads from person to person and show the efficacy of anti-virus measures in a way that is easy for the public to understand.

Creating a market in Greece

When he first began his company, Babatsikos spent two years working hard at creating a market for medical animation in Greece, something that was not widely used in the country despite its popularity abroad.

Despite the struggles, the entrepreneur was committed to his goal of “creating innovations” and “offering them to the Greek public” through his work.

Even though the country was facing a period of economic difficulty, Babatsikos succeeded in starting his company, a feat that he owes to his attitude:

“I won’t hide that I was enthusiastic, focused on my goal, and secretly a dreamer for a more optimistic future,” Babatsikos says with pride.

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