The University of Louisville’s Division of International Pediatrics is getting a $4 million boost from two private gifts being matched with state money.

Two $1 million donations, one from The Humana Foundation and one from David and Betty Jones of Louisville, will attract equal funding from Kentucky’s Bucks for Brains program, university officials announced today.

More than 100 U of L pediatricians and pediatric nurses have traveled overseas, often more than once, to improve health care for children in Poland, Romania, Moldova and Latvia. They continue to provide expertise, training, equipment and supplies to their colleagues in the four Eastern European nations.

 “We also have hosted more than 200 pediatricians and pediatric nurses from these nations who have come here for advanced training,” said Larry Cook, U of L’s executive vice president for health affairs.

When Humana’s co-founder and chairman, David Jones, created the Romanian Assistance Project, the practice of neonatology and pediatrics in Romania lagged behind the United States as much as 40 years, said George Rodgers, who directs the division. Today, the nation lags only about 10 years behind.

“This is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my professional career,” Rodgers said. “We have worked with an entire generation of pediatricians in these countries.”

The Division of International Pediatrics is an outgrowth of the original Romanian Assistance project, thanks to the continued support of The Humana Foundation.  The Humana Foundation gift will increase the division’s operating expenses, while the gift from Mr. and Mrs. Jones will create a new endowed chair for the division.

“The Romanian Assistance Project and its expansion is the most successful philanthropic project that I have ever seen,” said David Jones. “More than 320 American volunteers donated their time and gave willingly with their hearts as well as their minds, I’m very passionate about it.”

Virginia Judd, executive director of The Humana Foundation, sees an exciting future for the project.  “The pediatrics department can continue to build on its years of experience in Eastern Europe.  These endowments represent new resources and new opportunities to replicate the work, to reach out to children in need in other parts of the world.  It’s a wonderful legacy for all of us.”