Dr. Chris Giannou inducted as a GLSA Honorary Member
The Greek Lifesaving Sports Association inducts Dr. Chris
Giannou as an Honorary Member for outstanding
contributions for saving countless human lives throughout his life in war zone.
Dr. Giannou has made a legendary legacy within the International Movement of
the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. The presentation will be made by the
Liaison of the International Olympic Academy Participants Association, Dimitris
Regalos.
The awarding ceremony took place during the International Experts Symposium on Lifesaving as Olympic Sport. The symposium was organized by the Greek Lifesaving Sports Associatation and held at the Hellenic Olympic Committee in Halandri, Greece 20-21/-5/2023. The event was endorsed by 30 prestigious (inter)national organizations and 39 authorities by 18 nations.
Giannou
was born in Toronto, Canada, 1949, the son of Greek immigrant parents. His
university studies included McGill (Montreal), Algiers (Algeria), Angers
(France), and Cairo (Egypt). From 1980-90, he was a surgeon with the Palestine
Red Crescent Society during the civil war in Lebanon. He
was taken prisoner of war by the Israeli army during the invasion of Lebanon in
1982 and was responsible for the medical care of Israeli POWs in the hands of
the PLO in Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1983. From 1985-88, Giannou was director and
sole surgeon of the PRCS hospital in Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, during the
War of the Camps. He then went on to work as a field surgeon for the
International Committee of the Red Cross in Somalia, Cambodia, Afghanistan,
Burundi, and Chechnya. In 1995, he was medical coordinator of the ICRC campaign
to ban anti-personnel landmines. He then served as Head Surgeon of the ICRC in
Geneva from 1998 to 2005 with field missions to Sudan, DR Congo, Chad, Guinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and the
DPR Korea amongst other favourite tourist spots. Officially retired from the
ICRC, he continues to deploy on short field missions with various
organisations. He has been to the Syrian-Turkish border to train Syrian
surgeons in war surgery techniques four times. In 2019, he was elected a member
of the Executive Committee of the Hellenic Red Cross. He is Co-President of the
Scientific Committee of the Centre for Research and Education in the Ecology of
War at the American University of Beirut and is a lecturer at Queen Mary
University of London. He was inducted a Member of the Order of Canada in 1990
and was awarded the Star of Palestine by the Executive Committee of the
Palestine Liberation Organisation in 1987. Photo: GLSA, Julia Dunitz.
