Dr. Irina Beliene (born 1953, in Siaulia) comes from a family of doctors, and is an ophthalmologist. She did her studies in Leningrad and is on the faculty of the University of Vilnius medical school.

When she was a young child, her father often told her about Janusz Korczak (Goldschmidt), a Polish Jewish teacher who, in spite of an opportunity to escape, chose to accompany 200 of his young students to the Treblinka death camps. There, the entire group was gassed.

Today, groups around the world honor his memory and those of the children who died with him and during the holocaust. Social and humanitarian services are provided for children at centers organized by such groups, and Dr. Beliene is the president of the Janusz Korczak group of Lithuania.