Dr. Varelas is the chair of the Department of Neurology, He received his medical degree from the University of Athens Medical School in Greece, and. completed a neurology residency at the Aeginition University Hospital in Athens. He was a research fellow in the Department of Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and then repeated a complete residency in neurology at Yale University School of Medicine before sub-specializing in neurological intensive care at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Subsequently, he created two neurointensive care units, one at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and one at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, before moving to Albany Medical College.