Dr. Keros was born in Michigan, growing up in the Detroit area. Every day he wasn’t in school he worked in his family’s restaurants, which remains by far the most demanding job he’s ever had. 

Higher education was his parents’ prerequisite for being allowed to “escape” the demands of the family business, so he attended Duke University where he received dual degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. A federal work-study job his freshman year in a neuroscience lab evolved into active research throughout his 4 years, and he decided to pursue a PhD. Just before graduation he decided to go for a joint MD/PhD degree. So back to class he went (two more years!!) to complete medical school prerequisite coursework.

While waiting for medical school acceptances, he moved to Washington, DC for a research year as a NIH “Pre-IRTA” fellow. He made a tough decision not to attend the University of Michigan medical school (sorry Mom!) and instead enrolled in a NIH funded Medical Scientist Training Program position at the University of Alabama-Birmingham where (10 long years later) he graduated with both his MD and a PhD. It was during his time at UAB that Sotirios took up personal finance and tax-law (initially as a hobby), giving lectures to graduate and medical students, and correcting his mentors’ tax returns. His abilities in this area also turned into a side business for financial planning and tax preparation, STKeros Financial Planning. He also co-founded Doctored Money, a non-for-profit organization devoted to improving physician wellness through financial literacy. Via Doctored Money, Dr. Keros has given over 100 lectures in the past 5 years to medical schools and faculty groups. 

Dr. Keros didn’t think he’d like living in a big city, but took a chance on New York in order to come to Weill Cornell Medical College (New York Presbyterian Hospital) to complete his adult and child neurology training, as well as his fellowship training in pediatric epilepsy. As a resident and fellow, he won two prestigious hospital awards, being voted by the graduating medical school class as the “best teaching” resident across all specialties and also the fellow “most dedicated” to teaching as voted by the pediatric residents.

He loved both Cornell and NYC so much he accepted a position as Cornell faculty, splitting his time between clinical care and the research laboratory (funded by a mentored “K-12” grant) for 3 years.

Sotirios is extremely proud of his basic-science research accomplishments and publications, but he decided to stop bench science in order to increase time devoted to directly taking care of children with neurologic conditions. He was motivated to help address the shortage of pediatric specialty care which exists in much of the US. So he took a job with Sanford Children’s Hospital and the University of South Dakota, while continuing part-time at Cornell (in addition to maintaining his existing financial planning client and tax-preparation efforts). He spent 10 days each month in Sioux Falls, SD, commuting from NYC. However, his three part-time jobs added up to more than one “full-time” job and did not leave enough time for family and his other interests. So, after 2 years he reluctantly left Cornell and made Sanford Children’s his sole physician practice. Sotirios spent a total of 4 years in South Dakota working with the most exceptional people, both colleagues and patients. After 500 hotel nights and 400 flight segments, the costs and travel time had begun to wear him down. So in January 2020 Sotirios returned to the Weill Cornell pediatric faculty.

In July 2022, Sotirios made a bittersweet decision to leave clinical medicine, primarily to enable extended time to visit family which spends most of the year in Europe. He now works full-time on financial literacy and education for medical professionals and for his financial planning firm.