International Pediatrics Section gets $4 million boost, endowed chair
George Rodgers, M.D., Ph.D., is director of international pediatrics at UofL.
The University of Louisville's International Pediatrics Section will get a $4 million boost from two private gifts and matching state money, school officials announced April 4.
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 Research Challenge Trust Fund, also known as Bucks for Brains. The Humana Foundation gift will increase the section's operating budget, while the Jones' gift will create a new endowed chair.
UofL's International Pediatrics Section has been a key player in efforts to improve health-care delivery in Eastern Europe since the early 1990s. Chief among these is the Romanian Assistance Project, a program established in 1991 by Humana co-founder and chairman David Jones, who was tapped as part of President George H.W. Bush's Citizens Democracy Corps to help former communist countries establish functional democracies following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In the 15 years since the project's inception, The Humana Foundation has provided ongoing financial and logistical support to UofL's International Pediatrics Section.
As a result, hundreds of Louisville-based pediatricians, nurses and technology specialists have traveled to Romania to help modernize the country's medical schools, patient care and research infrastructure, said George Rodgers, M.D., Ph.D., director of international pediatrics at UofL. Their efforts helped reshape medical education for a generation of Romanian physicians and vastly improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Romanian children.
"When the program began, the Romanian pediatric health-care system was probably 40 years behind the U.S. in terms of knowledge, technology and facilities," Rodgers said. "In most areas today, they're probably only about 10 years behind us. I think the program has clearly made a very deep impact.
"We weren't the only factor driving these changes," he added. "There were improvements at the government level, including increased funding for medical care. But we made a tremendous impact on medical knowledge, which is extremely satisfying to me."
Humana and the International Pediatrics Section also helped organize a seven-year program to improve medical care in Poland.
"The Romanian Assistance Project and its expansion is the most successful philanthropic project that I have ever seen," Jones said. "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."
The International Pediatrics Section is planning new programs for Latvia and Moldova that will use funding provided by The Humana Foundation and the David Jones family. They will employ the same educational formula that proved successful in Poland and Romania.
