François Olivennes

François Olivennes grew up in Paris. He is the son of psychiatrist and child psychoanalyst Maria Landau, and psychiatrist turned poet Armand Olivennes. He is the eldest of three. Both of his younger brothers, Denis Olivennes and Frédéric Olivennes[2] work in the French media industry.

François Olivennes graduated from French Medical school in 1985. In 1992, he became medical director in the public hospital IVF units of the Béclère Hospital in Clamart until 2002 when he left for the Cochin hospital in Paris. He has a PhD in Biology of Reproduction and was appointed as Professor in Biology of Reproduction in 2000. He has been an invited speaker in more than 150 international meetings.

In 2006, he left the public hospital system and opened a private practice in Paris' 17th arrondissement. He is also the general team co-ordinator at the IVF centre Eylau la Muette.[3]

Olivennes married English actress Kristin Scott Thomas in 1987 and had three children, Hannah (born 1988), Joseph (born 1991), and George (born 2000). The couple divorced in 2005. He currently lives in Paris.

In 2011, French President Nicolas Sarkozy personally awarded him[9] the Légion d'Honneur for his work in the medical field.