Demetrios Pandermalis was born in Thessalonike in 1940. He studied History and Archaeology and subsequently German language and literature at the Aristotle University. This was followed by post-graduate studies at Freiburg in Germany where he received a doctorate in 1968. The next year he was appointed the position of Assistant at the Museum of Casts of the Philosophical School of the Aristotle University of Thessalonike. He was appointed as Assistant Professor and Professor of Classical Archaeology in 1979. From 1973 on he has been Director of the Archaeological Excavations at Dion. He has served as chairman of the Department of History and Archaeology, Dean of the Philosophical School and President of the State Theater of Northern Greece. He is a standing member of the Archaeological Society of Athens and the German Archaeological Institute. Currently he serves as the President of the Executive Committee of the International Foundation of Alexander the Great and of the Tellogleion Foundation for the Arts.

Prof. Pandermalis is renowned for his research on ancient sculpture and architecture, with publications covering such topics as Roman portraits from Macedonia, the display of statues in the Villa of the Papyrii, and the Royal Tomb at Vergina, among many others. His work at Dion has been conducted over the past thirty years. The excavation is run as a field school, and a permanent educational exhibition for school children, students and the more general public is installed in the Dion Museum. Recent activities have centered on the 1996 creation of an extensive archaeological park at Dion.

He began his teaching career in 1966 at the University of Freiburg where he taught for three years. He has been teaching at the University of Thessaloniki since 1969.

Prof. Pandermalis is instrumental in the organization of the archaeological symposium on research carried out in Macedonia and Thrace held annually in cooperation with the 16 th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Archaeological Antiquities. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Berlin, Munich, Freiburg, Jena, Hamburg, Frankfort, Bonn, Köln, Marburg, Heidelberg, Göttingen, Karlsruhe, Rome, Florence, Lecce, Palermo, Padua, Luxemburg, Brussels, London, Dublin, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Yale, Princeton, Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berkeley, San Diego, Melbourne and Uppsala.

From September 1996 to March 2000, he served as Country Member of Greek parliament and in March 2000 he was elected President of the Permanent inter-Party Committee of the Parliament for Greek Abroad. In May 2000 he was unanimously elected by the Council of Ministers President of the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum.