Meropi Tzoufi (; born 10 October 1956) is a Greek politician, member of the

New Left Party New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

, former Deputy Minister of Education, Research and Religious Affairs in the government of Alexis Tsipras and Professor of

Pediatrics Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many o ...

- Pediatric Neurology at the Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences of the

University of Ioannina The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a public university located in Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle University of ...

. Born in

Ioannina Ioannina ( ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina (regional unit), Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus (region), Epirus, an Modern regions of Greece, administrative region in northwester ...

, she graduated from the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

's Medical School in 1983. While a student there, she joined the

Communist Youth of Greece The Communist Youth of Greece (; , KNE) is the youth organization of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). It is a Marxist-Leninist organization which mainly seeks to familiarize the Greek youth with the policies of the KKE. It publishes the month ...

, and was also part of the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

in the 1980s. She is married to economist Evangelos Makarios, and has two daughters, making her home with them in Ioannina in 1985. After graduating from university, Tzoufi worked as a doctor in Konitsa, then was a pediatric specialist in Ioannina. In the 1990s, she became a curator for Greece's National Healthcare Service and worked as a curator. In 2003, she became a lecturer at the

, then was an assistant professor in the Pediatric Health department from 2006 to 2012. She also served as a board member of the Greek Pediatric Neurology Society. In the January 2015 Greek elections, the

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

party won four of five seats in Ioannina; as one of the founding members of the party, Tzoufi was given one of the seats. She was re-elected in the September 2015 elections, and has held the position since. She has served on the Cultural and Educational Affairs and the Social Affairs committees, as well as the special committee on Equality, Youth and Human Rights. Left Syriza in November 2023, disagreeing with the party's shift to the center and the abandonment of its left-wing ideology. joined the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

party along with other outgoing Syriza MPs. Meropi Tzoufi: I leave a party that has lost its purpose
(el)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tzoufi, Meropi 1956 births Living people Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Greek MPs 2015–2019 Women members of the Hellenic Parliament Syriza politicians People from Ioannina Greek MPs 2019–2023 Greek MPs 2023–