Melbourne - 2006

The Greek Conference held Masterclass 2006 in August 2006 followed by its 2006 Charity Dinner at a sell-out night at Melbourne's historic Windsor Hotel.

The event enabled The Greek Conference, through the 2006 Charity Dinner to donate a further $7,000.00 to the Cell & Gene Therapy Unit at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute of the Royal Children’s Hospital, bringing to $25,000 the total of the Conference's recent donations to the Unit.

Conference chairman. Eugenia Mitrakas, said that the Conference had adopted the Murdoch's thalassaemia research project as their major beneficiary and that plans were already well in hand for the 2007 events, which would also support their research work.

She said that the work started by the late Panos Loannou was of tremendous significance to thalassaemia sufferers, both in Australia and overseas. In response, the Unit's director, Dr Jim Vadolas, spoke on the research into the disease that was being undertaken by the Murdoch and his hopes for relieving the suffering and improving the life styles of thalassaemia patients.

Eugenia Mitrakas introduced State Member of Parliament, The Hon Jenny Mikakos, who added her support for the Murdoch's work and Jane Fenton, from the Board of Directors of the Murdoc, to accept the contribution in conjunction with Jim Vadolas.

In presenting the cheque, Jenny Mikakos praised The Greek Conference for their dedication to education and cultural exchange as well as the clear commitment to charitable aims and support of the local Greek community.

Her Honour Justice Marcia Neave ( Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria) with Conference Chairman, Eugenia Mitrakas

Jenny Mikakos also praised The Greek Conference for staging Masterclass 2006 earlier in the day, addressing contemporary challenges in law, medicine and science. Eugenia Mitrakas said that the day's session, which was also packed, was highlighted by contributions from a range of leading academics and professionals, with the key note address being given by Justice Marcia Neave, a Judge of the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Other speakers included prominent human rights lawyer Lex Lasry QC; leading cardiologist Dr Jim Tatoulis from the Royal Melbourne Hospital; and Professor Loane Skene, the Chairman of the Academic Board of the University of Melbourne.

"I was delighted to see a wide cross section of the professional at the Masterclass 2006,"said Eugenia Mitrakas, "and particularly pleased to be able to greet a number of delegates from our more recent conferences in Crete and Mykonos, as well as from our last Melbourne event". She continued that the fact that delegates attended from Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia also indicated the importance of Masterclass 2006 in the academic and educational calendar.