Speaker Bio
*Sponsored Session.
Marianna V. Vardinoyannis is a Unesco goodwill ambassador for the protection of children, and founder and president of the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation. She also founded the ELPIDA Association of Friends of Children with Cancer and the Orama Elpidas Association. She has extensive experience of engaging in humanitarian work for the benefit of children and disadvantaged social groups in Greece and abroad, as well as on issues of peace, human rights, education, health and cultural heritage.
For more than 27 years, Ms. Vardinoyannis has fought tirelessly to improve the care received by children with cancer through her work with ELPIDA. Thousands of children’s lives have been saved in Greece and the Mediterranean region, including 900 children who have received treatment at ELPIDA’s bone marrow transplant unit, the first in Greece, since it opened in 1993. In 2010, she created the first Pediatric Oncology Hospital in Greece, which currently receives 80% of childhood cancer patients in the country, and has been affiliated with hospitals around the world such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the United States and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. She also established the Orama Elpidas bone marrow donor registry.
The Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation supports children and families, schools, people in need, and refugees in Greece, as well as Unesco programs for education and culture around the world, with the aim of promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The foundation also cooperates with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to extend the “Speak Truth to Power” human rights education program in Greek schools.
Ms. Vardinoyannis has supported many education institutions, in Greece and beyond. She funded the establishment of the Hellenic Initiative and the Vardinoyannis Library of Hellenic Civilization at New York University, the Constantine G. Karamanlis Chair in Hellenic and Southeastern European Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. In Greece, she has supported the Municipal Indoors Athletics Center in Ermioni,, the Kindergarten of Agios Nikolaos in Athens, and many others. She is also behind the revival and reconstruction of Makistos, a village close to ancient Olympia, that was destroyed by fire in 2007.
Among numerous organizations, Ms. Vardinoyannis is on the advisory board of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and serves as trustee of Mentor, a charity that works to reduce alcohol and drug misuse. She is a member of the leadership council of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and sits on the board of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. She is a founding member of the Light of Africa Foundation, and president of the honorary committee of the Special Olympics Hellas. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history of art and economics, and a master’s degree in archaeology. She has also received honorary doctorates in law, philosophy and human studies.
Ms. Vardinoyannis became an officer of the Legion d'Honneur of the French Republic in 2015, having been named a knight of the Legion d' Honneur in 2006. Among numerous accolades and decorations, she received the Mother Teresa Medal of the Albanian Republic in 2015, and the Golden Cross of the Order of Benefaction of the Hellenic Republic in 2002. She has also received many distinctions such as the Ripple of Hope Award from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights in 2015, the Grand Prix de la Charte de Paris contre le cancer in 2014, the Pro Bono Humanum Award by Prix Galien Greece in 2013, the Athens Academy Award in 1997, and many others.
Marianna V. Vardinoyannis is a Unesco goodwill ambassador for the protection of children, and founder and president of the Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation. She also founded the ELPIDA Association of Friends of Children with Cancer and the Orama Elpidas Association. She has extensive experience of engaging in humanitarian work for the benefit of children and disadvantaged social groups in Greece and abroad, as well as on issues of peace, human rights, education, health and cultural heritage.
For more than 27 years, Ms. Vardinoyannis has fought tirelessly to improve the care received by children with cancer through her work with ELPIDA. Thousands of children’s lives have been saved in Greece and the Mediterranean region, including 900 children who have received treatment at ELPIDA’s bone marrow transplant unit, the first in Greece, since it opened in 1993. In 2010, she created the first Pediatric Oncology Hospital in Greece, which currently receives 80% of childhood cancer patients in the country, and has been affiliated with hospitals around the world such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in the United States and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. She also established the Orama Elpidas bone marrow donor registry.
The Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation supports children and families, schools, people in need, and refugees in Greece, as well as Unesco programs for education and culture around the world, with the aim of promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The foundation also cooperates with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights to extend the “Speak Truth to Power” human rights education program in Greek schools.
Ms. Vardinoyannis has supported many education institutions, in Greece and beyond. She funded the establishment of the Hellenic Initiative and the Vardinoyannis Library of Hellenic Civilization at New York University, the Constantine G. Karamanlis Chair in Hellenic and Southeastern European Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. In Greece, she has supported the Municipal Indoors Athletics Center in Ermioni,, the Kindergarten of Agios Nikolaos in Athens, and many others. She is also behind the revival and reconstruction of Makistos, a village close to ancient Olympia, that was destroyed by fire in 2007.
Among numerous organizations, Ms. Vardinoyannis is on the advisory board of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and serves as trustee of Mentor, a charity that works to reduce alcohol and drug misuse. She is a member of the leadership council of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and sits on the board of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center in Baku, Azerbaijan. She is a founding member of the Light of Africa Foundation, and president of the honorary committee of the Special Olympics Hellas. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history of art and economics, and a master’s degree in archaeology. She has also received honorary doctorates in law, philosophy and human studies.
Ms. Vardinoyannis became an officer of the Legion d'Honneur of the French Republic in 2015, having been named a knight of the Legion d' Honneur in 2006. Among numerous accolades and decorations, she received the Mother Teresa Medal of the Albanian Republic in 2015, and the Golden Cross of the Order of Benefaction of the Hellenic Republic in 2002. She has also received many distinctions such as the Ripple of Hope Award from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights in 2015, the Grand Prix de la Charte de Paris contre le cancer in 2014, the Pro Bono Humanum Award by Prix Galien Greece in 2013, the Athens Academy Award in 1997, and many others.
Full Name
Marianna Vardinoyannis*
