message from the board
Dear Friends,
I would like to dedicate the 2016 Baylor Black Sea Foundation annual report to a friend, colleague and visionary leader: Dr. Mark W. Kline. Twenty years ago, Dr. Mark Kline made his first trip to Romania to see first-hand the pediatric AIDS crisis in Constanta. What he saw were hundreds of abandoned children crammed into bitterly cold orphanages and hospitals, gravely ill and dying of HIV/AIDS, without access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs. This contrasted sharply with his patients back home at Texas Children’s Hospital. Thus began Dr. Kline’s quest to not only improve the lives of HIV-infected children in Romania but transform pediatric HIV/AIDS care and treatment globally. From 1996-2001, Dr. Kline and his team from the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and Texas Children’s Hospital made countless trips to Constanta to train
local doctors and nurses and establish the protocols that saved countless young lives.
The creation of the Romania Children’s Center of Excellence and Flower House became a reality.
Twenty years later, Dr. Kline remains a visionary leader in global health as President of BIPAI; Chairman of the Board of Directors, Baylor Black Sea Foundation; Physician-in-Chief, Texas Children’s Hospital; and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine. What began as an individual quest to improve the lives of HIV-infected children in Constanta has grown into a global program with BIPAI Children’s Centers of Excellence in seven countries providing life-saving care and treatment to over 260,000 HIV-infected children and their families. The Power of One, Dr. Mark Kline.
Michael B. Mizwa
Vice Chairman
Board of Directors
Baylor Black Sea Foundation
Chief Operating Officer/Senior Vice President
Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative
Director, Global Health
Texas Children’s Hospital
HIV HEPATITIS MEDICAL DONATIONS
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