Nikolaos Papaefstathiou has held the position of Secretary General for Civil Protection at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection since March 2025. He has extensive experience in senior operational leadership roles in the fields of pre-hospital emergency care, disaster management and crisis response, having served for more than two decades at the National Centre of Emergency Care (EKAB) and at the National Health Operation Center. He has repeatedly served as President of the Board of Directors of EKAB (2006–2010, 2014–2015, 2019–2025), Vice President of the Board (2004–2006) and Governor of the National Centre for Health Operations (EKEPY) (2015–2019). In these positions, he played a decisive role in strategic and operational planning, in coordinating health response during national and international crises and natural disasters, as well as in reorganizing key structures such as EKAB’s Special Unit of Disaster Medicine (ETIK) and the Health Operations Centre (KEPY-EKAB). He developed close cooperation with international organizations, representing Greece in the Health Security Committee of the European Union and at NATO, while contributing to the planning of the World Health Organization’s Emergency Medical Teams (WHO EMT) certification of EKAB’s ETIK unit. At the same time, through EKAB, he had an active role in the design and implementation of European programs such as Horizon Europe and DG ECHO, significantly strengthening the international outreach and modernization of operational structures. He is a graduate of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in Rural and Surveying Engineering and holds a Master’s degree in Geoinformatics (GIS).