Hellenic Canadian Academic Association of Ontario
Executive Board
Meet our Executive Board Members
President - Maria Athina (Tina) Martimianakis
Maria Athina (Tina) Martimianakis is Professor and Director of Medical Education Scholarship in the Department of Paediatrics, and Scientist and Associate Director Collaborations and Partnerships, Wilson Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. As a Scientist Tina studies the socio-politics of education with a particular focus on issues related to the hidden curriculum, identity and faculty and learner experiences. As an educator, she employs critical and social cultural pedagogies to develop programming to address hidden curriculum effects and to enable health professionals to incorporate complex negotiations of the social world in their educational planning and implementation. Tina works with educational leaders in the department of Paediatrics, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and across Canada to enhance educational scholarship, and to contribute to efforts to improve clinical learning environments with policy and curriculum interventions.
Secretary - Myrto Grigoroglou
I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Linguistics and the Cognitive Science Program at the University of Toronto. I am also the director of the Toronto Language and Cognition Lab. My research focuses on the study of meaning in natural language; how it is acquired by children during development, how it is achieved in conversation, and how it interacts with non-linguistic cognition. I teach courses on child language acquisition, language and communication, and language and thought. Born and raised in Athens, I completed my undergraduate degrees at the University of Athens, before moving to the USA for a PhD in Linguistics at the University of Delaware. I first arrived in Toronto in 2018 as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto (OISE). Being in the HCAAO allowed me to meet interesting people I have a lot in common with and participate in various academic and cultural events that made me feel very at home.
Vice President - Panagiota (Nota) Klentrou
Dr. Panagiota (Nota) Klentrou is the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences and a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Brock University. Previously, she served 3 terms as Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies in the same Faculty and 3.5 terms as Chair of the Department of Kinesiology. In 2024, she was elected Chair of the University’s Senate, after serving as Senator for 20 years and chairing several Senate Committees. Dr. Klentrou received a BSc in Physical Education and Sport Science from the National University of Athens, Greece, and an MSc and PhD in Exercise Physiology from Université de Montréal. Her research uses applied and basic science approaches to study human performance and the implications of sport training primarily in children and youth. With significant funding from Canadian and other funding agencies, this research is trying to identify the cellular mechanisms that explain how exercise training and dietary choices during childhood and adolescence affects skeletal development and lifelong bone health. Dr. Klentrou is a leader in her field with >150 publications and >6,000 citations covering a range of topics in pediatric exercise physiology, exercise interventions, musculoskeletal growth and maturation, nutritional supplements, and inflammation. Dr. Klentrou is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) and was president of the society from 2017-2019, after serving 10 years as treasurer. In 2023, CSEP acknowledged her contributions to exercise physiology in Canada by awarding her the CSEP Honour Award. She has been involved with national and international organizations including Osteoporosis Canada, the International Gymnastics Federation and the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Vice Secretary - Sakis Gekas
I am an Associate Professor and the Hellenic Heritage Foundation Chair in Modern Greek History and Hellenic Studies at York University. I have served on the HCAAO board since 2010 when I moved to Toronto. I grew up in Veria and studied in the Ionian University and the University of Essex. I teach Modern Greek History - including a popular summer abroad course in Greece - and the history of Greek migration and diaspora in the 20th century. My research contributes to the economic and social history of Modern Greece, British colonialism and the 1821 Revolution, and the history of Greeks in Canada. More information about research and teaching are available here https://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/agekas/ and when you get a chance, please also check the HHF Greek Canadian Archives, and the fantastic research team I am fortunate to be working with!
Treasurer - John Simoulidis
I am an Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Business and Society Program in the Department of Social Science at York University in Toronto. I teach courses on food and business and coordinate a social economy practicum. I am involved in a number of sustainability and fair trade initiatives at York. I supervise a composting program at two campuses that are attached to local community gardens. I serve on the board of Green Campus Cooperative which sells sustainably produced fair trade clothing to schools, Universities and organizations that share our values of sustainability and trade justice. I am also the president of the Canadian Association for Studies in cooperation, having a particular interest in worker-run cooperatives. My parents immigrated to Toronto from a village near Kavala, Greece in 1969 and I grew up in the Ossington and Bloor area. Two of my grandparents were Pontic refugees from the Trabzon region of present-day Turkey, one from Batum, Georgia and the other from Gerolimenas, Mani, Greece. I appreciate the work the HCAAO does in organizing events related to Greek history, politics and culture, particularly music.
Graduate Student Representative - Eva Theodoridou
I am a PhD Candidate at the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. I grew up in Thessaloniki, where I studied Journalism and Mass Media, before moving to Athens to pursue an MA in Cultural Management at Panteion University. I have worked at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, where I designed and implemented classical music activities to broaden audience engagement and reach diverse publics. My dissertation research examines Balkan vampirism in cinema through a decolonial and Deleuzian framework, focusing on how “minor” films of the region reconfigure, politicize, and deterritorialize dominant Western representations of folklore and vampirism. Being part of HCAAO’s vibrant community has allowed me to connect with inspiring people who share a vision for engaging with and organizing events centered on Greek history, politics, and culture.