A Commitment to Philanthropy

The Diennet Institute has a long-standing commitment to philanthropy around the world. Since 1968, Dr. Marcel Diennet has worked worldwide, providing relief through both his valuable medical skill set and financial support. Today, he continues his humanitarian work supporting Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based organization working to provide relief and development aid to countries in need. Leveraging his medical acumen and research on malnutrition, Dr. Diennet has dedicated himself to helping others, and maintains a commitment to charitable causes of all kinds.

Nigeria, 1968

During the Biafra War, Dr. Diennet worked as a medical doctor with the International Red Cross. In South Nigeria, where civil war was tearing communities apart, he delivered medical care and was appointed the doctor in charge of transporting children outside the country for additional care.

Gabon, 1968

Working with the International Red Cross, Dr. Diennet led the transport of hundreds of Nigerian children to a hospital in Gabon, where they received necessary medical care.

Kenya, 1969

Working with Flying Doctors, a medical relief organization, Dr. Diennet returned to East Africa to offer his services as a medical doctor for patients who had limited access to medical care.

France, 1970

Utilizing his research on starvation in third world countries, Dr. Diennet worked with the prison system in his home country, France, to aid prisoners who were malnourished due to hunger strikes.

Vietnam, 1971

During the Vietnam War, children across the war-torn country suffered from disease, starvation and other untreated medical conditions. In 1971, Dr. Diennet traveled Saigon to bring medical relief. There, with the help of US troops, he built a much-needed hospital and orphanage, called Phu My Hospital, offering medical care to hundreds of Vietnamese orphans. He left Vietnam in 1975, but returned in the late 1980s with his friend and fellow humanitarian Richard Walden, CEO of Operation USA, returning to Phu My Hospital to care for children in need. Today, the hospital still remains a fixture of the community there and a reminder of the doctor’s continuing commitment.

Ethiopia, 1985

Dr. Diennet accompanied an Operation USA medical mission to provide aid, and evaluate its effectiveness, in internally displaced persons camps housing hundreds of thousands of famine victims.

Cuba, 2009

Dr. Diennet accompanied an Operation USA delegation to pediatric hospitals in Havana to evaluate the material needs of those facilities.

United States, 2013 and beyond

Today, Dr. Diennet maintains a commitment to humanitarian causes around the world. Partnering with Operation USA and his old friend Richard Walden, the doctor provides financial support to vital projects around the world and right here in the US, bringing relief where it’s needed most.