Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, scientist who saved thousands of infants, dies at 90

Maria Delivoria-Papadopoulos, an internationally known scientist in the field of neonatal medicine who helped save thousands of infants through her groundbreaking research, died Friday, Sept. 11, of endometrial cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

During a 50-year career, Dr. Delivoria-Papadopoulos was a professor of pediatrics, physiology, and obstetrics/gynecology at Drexel University College of Medicine, and director of neonatal intensive care at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Both are in Philadelphia.

She was regarded as the “mother of neonatology” and “a legend in the field," Greece’s Neonatal Society said in an online tribute.

“She remains alive in the hearts and memories of the hundreds of doctors she trained and inspired to have a love for sick children, of the hundreds of Greek doctors she opened the way for, and of the thousands of Greek patients who found treatment at specialized centers with her help,” the society said on Sept. 14.

Born in Athens, she was the daughter of Constantine and Kalliopi Delivoria. She earned a medical degree from Athens University.

She came to the United States in 1957 to pursue postdoctoral study in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty and created the neonatal unit at Penn, which she ran before leaving as professor emeritus in 2000.

She was on the Drexel faculty from 2000 to 2006, when she was given the Ralph Brenner Endowed Chair in Pediatrics at St. Christopher’s Hospital.

She was honored globally for her achievements and continued research in neonatal medicine throughout her life. Her most important contribution was taking the iron lung used to treat polio victims in the 1950s and adapting it to support the breathing of premature babies. Another was the use of magnetic resonance imaging to assess the infants' brains.

She was the first doctor to place an infant on a respirator to help with respiratory distress syndrome, her family said in a statement. She was also the first woman and doctor to demonstrate the effective use of mechanical ventilation to treat lung disease in premature infants, the family said.

The mechanics of philotimo: volunteers repair cars damaged in Evia floods (video)

In early August, the Greek island of Evia was hit by a catastrophic flood that killed eight people and caused incalculable destruction. In the wake of the disaster, residents found their homes and possessions destroyed. 

They were left to wonder how they could ever recover from this catastrophe. Now, a group of mechanics from Athens has volunteered to fix vehicles that were heavily damaged in the flood as soon as they saw the aftermath of the natural disaster.

The flooding was caused by the extraordinary amounts of rainfall that fell over a relatively short period of time. While the weather forecast had called for 63 mm (2.5 inches) of rain, Evia was deluged by 300 mm (11.8 inches) in just 8 hours, making the natural disaster one of the most devastating in the region’s history.

Tragically, eight people, including one infant, lost their lives in the terrible storm. Thousands of homes on Evia were flooded with water and mud, and many cars were swept away into the sea by torrents of water.

The amount of damage left by the flood is simply unimaginable. The most heavily-impacted regions on the island were Psachna, Politika, Bourtzi, Vasilikou and Lefkandi.

Upon seeing images of the destruction left in the wake of the flood, car aficionado Vasilis Papanikitas decided to go to Evia with his friends to help the residents there. “It started when I saw the cars in Bourtzi that were destroyed. People were saying that local mechanics didn’t believe that the cars could be repaired, and they should be discarded,” he explains.

Although Papanikitas is not a professional mechanic, but a cafe owner – his ‘Cafe Racer’ is a popular spot among car aficionados, in the Athenian suburb of Kifissia – he’s happy that he has now proved them wrong.

“I really like cars and I love repairing them. I couldn’t accept that the cars couldn’t be fixed. Nearly every car can be fixed,” he stated as he cleaned car parts that had been covered in mud during the flood.

John Mavroudis is the artist behind the powerful new TIME Magazine cover

John Mavroudis’ cover for the latest issue of TIME magazine pays tribute to all 200,000 Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19 this year.

Mavroudis’ concluding ellipses serve as a stark reminder of what will only continue during the pandemic in the absence of true leadership at the highest levels.

“I really hope this cover awakens the consciences of those who stand apathetically in the face of this catastrophe. Science and common sense are the answer to this crisis,” the Greek artist told local Greek media.