International Nonprofit Honors Norfolk Neonatologist

NORFOLK, VA (09/15/2010)(readMedia)-- Physicians for Peace will honor Dr. Ed Karotkin on Oct. 2 for his leadership and humanitarian work in Latin America and India. The award ceremony will take place during the 2010 Physicians for Peace Celebrate the Nations Gala Reception in Virginia Beach, Va.

"For two decades, Dr. Karotkin has promoted education, information-sharing and invaluable cultural exchanges through his work with Physicians for Peace," said Brig. Gen. Ron Sconyers (USAF, Ret.), president and chief executive officer of Physicians for Peace. "He's given freely of his time and expertise, both at home as a longtime board member and volunteer leader and abroad as a mission leader and highly respected neonatologist. He's a man of compassion and insight and a tremendous asset to our organization."

Service, Dedication and Vision

Over the past 20 years, Karotkin, who is chairman-elect of Physicians for Peace, a neonatologist at the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters (CHKD), and a professor of Pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School, has been a team leader on missions to Cuba, Israel, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Romania and India. On these trips, Karotkin has embodied the Physicians for Peace train-the-trainer philosophy by presenting vital information on neonatal resuscitation to physicians, nurses and other health care professionals in Latin America and India. This basic education, which in-country medical professionals can share with their peers long after Physicians for Peace mission volunteers have returned home, makes a lasting, sustainable impact on health care delivery and represents the original vision of Dr. Charles E. Horton, who founded Physicians for Peace in 1989.

Karotkin also was the driving force behind the development of Physicians for Peace's Resource Mothers program, an initiative that minimizes expectant mothers' health risks and decreases infant mortality by ensuring young mothers receive the appropriate prenatal and pediatric care, along with the guidance of older, more experienced women, or resource mothers. Using his experience with Resource Mothers at CHKD, Karotkin helped launch Physicians for Peace's Madres Tutelares program in the Dominican Republic in November 2005. Since that time, the program has become one of Physicians for Peace's signature programs.

In recent years, Karotkin also has helped Physicians for Peace develop and broaden its relationships with Indian expatriates in the U.S. and medical professionals in India. Thanks in large part to his efforts, Physicians for Peace has completed multiple missions to India, and in November, Karotkin will lead a team on a two-week trip to Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Sawangi, India. During that trip, team members will present Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) training to local medical communities and serve as guest lecturers at a conference on life- threatening pediatric diseases, offering their expertise on sepsis, staph infections, labor and delivery techniques and anesthesiology.

Among other honors, Karotkin has received a Volunteer of the Year Award (Greater Hampton Roads Division) from the March of Dimes, a humanitarian award from the National Council for Community and Justice and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Department of Pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk. He is one of Physicians for Peace's three 2010 Medical Diplomat award winners. The other winners, Omar Boukhriss, the owner of Omar's Carriage House, Voilà and The Pagoda Restaurant in Norfolk, and Robin Jones, R.N., a nurse and midwife in Chesapeake, also will be recognized at the gala, alongside President Bill Clinton, who will receive Physicians for Peace's highest honor, the Charles E. Horton Award for Humanitarian Service, via video. At the gala, Physicians for Peace also will present an Excellence in Service Award to Dr. Juan Montero, a mission volunteer, team leader, former board member and friend of Physicians for Peace since 1995 and a key organizer of Physicians for Peace - Philippines.

"Each of the 2010 award recipient has demonstrated ongoing, selfless contributions to the achievement of the Physicians for Peace mission in training and education, clinical and research excellence and delivery of health care services," Sconyers said.

Tickets Still Available

The 2010 Celebrate the Nations Gala Reception will be held at the Cavalier Beach Club in Virginia Beach on Saturday, October 2, 2010, from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are still available. For more information, visit www.physiciansforpeace.org or contact Sallie Ray, sray@physiciansforpeace.org; (757) 625-7569.

ABOUT PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE

Physicians for Peace is an international non-profit organization that mobilizes volunteer healthcare professionals to assist developing nations with unmet medical needs and scarce resources. Through effective, hands-on medical education and training, clinical care and donated medical supplies, Physicians for Peace develops long-term, sustainable, replicable, and evidence-based programs to help partner nations build medical capability and capacity to help themselves. Since 1989 Volunteers for the 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization have conducted medical missions in more than 60 countries.

With its headquarters in Norfolk, Va., Physicians for Peace has programs in 22 countries and offices in Manila, the Philippines and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 2009, the organization celebrated its 20th Anniversary.

For more information, go to: www.physiciansforpeace.org

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