Pediatrics AIDS Corps doctors of 2009 begin work

HOUSTON -- (July 23, 2009) -- The newest group of doctors selected to join the Pediatric AIDS Corps, a joint program of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, will travel to Africa this week to begin their assignments.

The group's deployment abroad follows completion of a two-week training course in pediatric HIV/AIDS and tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Top-notch Corp

"We are constantly amazed with the quality of doctors that come on board for the Pediatric AIDS Corps," said Mike Mizwa, senior vice president and chief operating officer of BIPAI. "There are eight languages spoken within this group and most have experience working in an international health care setting, some in Africa. This experience, educational background and diversity make for a stronger corps."

The group includes 25 doctors, most who have recently completed their residency training programs, who will be assigned to BIPAI-associated Children's Clinical Centers of Excellence.

These centers provide HIV/AIDS care and treatment in areas of Africa where a high percentage of all deaths of children under age five is caused by the disease.

Each Corps doctor will provide primary and HIV/AIDS specialty care and treatment in collaboration with local health professionals for a minimum of one year.

2009 BIPAI Corps Doctors

The new class of doctors and their designated centers include:

Botswana - Stephanie Davis of Washington, D.C.; Leigh Howard of Searcy, Ark.; Brianna Kirk of Kansas City, Kan.; Premal Patel of Dickinson, Texas; Julia Rosebush of Bay City, Mich.; Leah Scherzer of Montclair, N.J.; and Gelane Workneh of Chicago.
Ethiopia - Sarah Frenning of Minneapolis, Minn.
Lesotho - Akash Devandra of Madras, India; Rajni Gunnala of Phoenix; Alexander Kay of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; Jaime Petrus of Ludington, Maine; and Amy Williams of Albuqureque, N.M.
Malawi - Sahera Dirajlal-Fargo of Phoenix; Rachel Kreps-Falk of Oakland, Calif.; and Carl Nosek of Whitewater, Wis.
Mbeya, Tanzania - Ijeoma ('IJ") Anosike of Elmont, N.Y., and Jessica Bradford of Boston.
Moshi, Tanzania - David Bowe of Seattle and Thu Bao Trung Vu of Abbeville, La.
Mwanza, Tanzania - Duncan Hau of Moraga, Calif.; Ayesha Kadir of St. Louis; and Cecily Wait of Walnut Creek, Calif.
Swaziland - Douglas Blank of Arlington, Va., and Matthew Markowski of New Hartford, Conn.

Biographies of the corps doctors are available.

Global Network

The Pediatric AIDS Corps is supported through a partnership between Bristol-Myers Squibb and BCM that provides each doctor with a stipend, covers living expenses and training, and offers assistance with student loan debt relief.

The first class of Pediatric AIDS Corps doctors was deployed abroad to work in BIPAI clinics in August 2006.

BIPAI was founded by Dr. Mark Kline at Texas Children's Hospital in 1996. Kline was recently named chair of pediatrics at BCM and physician-in-chief at Texas Children's.

With contributions from Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Abbott Fund and other organizations committed to fighting AIDS in resource-poor areas, BIPAI has created a global network of clinical care centers modeled after two landmark HIV/AIDS care and treatment centers it constructed and opened in Constanta, Romania and Gaborone, Botswana.