Impact Stories

“They sacrificed a lot to make sure all their children get a great education,” says Dr. Pierre Mardelli (BS Biology ’86). “It was very important for my parents to make us become high achievers and so they constantly pushed us to study hard and get to the top.” Their efforts paid off as his brothers and sisters excelled. “We are three physicians: Paul, a psychiatrist (AUB MD ’76); Inaam, a pathologist (AUB MD ’78), and Pierre, an ophthalmologist (St. Louis University MD ‘91); one engineer, (Abdallah); and Mona (MS Chemistry ’76 ) and Viviane (MS Food Processing ’80). Their grandsons/daughters also graduated from AUB: Georges (Engineering ’09), Christina (MD ’14), Alexander (Industrial Engineering ’21), and Jennifer (Master’s in Business Analytics ’21),” Dr. Mardelli added proudly. His wife, Aida Shehadi, who attended AUB, is also a member of a multi-generational AUB family.

Dr. Pierre Mardelli recently established the George and Georgette Mardelli Scholarship, a four-year scholarship to support medical students, with a preference for Armenian students, at AUB. “My mother passed away in May 2020,” he explains. “Establishing this scholarship seemed like the best way to remember her. She would be happy to know that there is a scholarship at AUB in her and my father’s names that is helping other young people to get the opportunity to pursue their education that she and my father worked so hard to provide me and my siblings.”

Another motivation for Dr. Mardelli was the desire to support current AUB students. “There is a big need at the moment,” he says and “so many students are struggling.” Dr. Mardelli, a glaucoma and cataract surgeon specialist who earned his MD degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in 1991, established the Eye Care Center of Beirut where he provides the Lebanese community with first-class eye care. He knows the struggles that AUB students are facing first-hand. “We all need to do what we can to help these young people,” he says.

Dr. Mardelli is also motivated to support scholarships at AUB by the desire to help his alma mater, which he describes as “the barometer” for Lebanon. “Whenever I speak to anyone in Lebanon, I always ask, ‘how is AUB?’ For Lebanon to survive, AUB must be strong,” he concludes.

“We are deeply grateful to alumni like Dr. Pierre Mardelli,” says Associate Vice President for Development Walid Katergi. “His gift has an immediate and profound impact, helping AUB students who are struggling during these terrible times.”