Project HOPE Honors Global Health Leaders at 7th Annual Project HOPE Gala

Leading Global Health Organization Recognizes José Miguel Bonetti, Dr. Maciej Kowalczyk, and CEO Roundtable on Cancer

Washington D.C., June 10, 2014

Project HOPE, a global health education and humanitarian assistance organization, today is announcing the 2014 recipients of the Project HOPE Global Health Awards at the organization’s annual gala at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.  The Project HOPE Global Health Awards are presented to individuals and organizations whose achievements and daily contributions support the core mission of Project HOPE: to make long-term sustainable health care available in communities around the world, especially those most in need.

This year’s honorees include:

• • The Project HOPE Global Health Leadership Award –  José Miguel Bonetti, President of MercaSID and co-founder of the Order of Malta Dominican Republic;
  • The Project HOPE Global Health Partner Award – Maciej Kowalczyk, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the University Children’s Hospital of Krakow, Poland; and
  • The Project HOPE Global Health Impact Award – CEO Roundtable on Cancer.

 

Project HOPE is passionate about our goal of providing health care to people in need around the world.  To carry out our mission, we rely on critical partners to help make what we do possible,” said John P. Howe III, M. D., President and CEO of Project HOPE. “We are grateful to be able to work with, and receive the support of, incredible people like José Miguel Bonetti and Dr. Maciej Kowalczyk, and organizations such as the CEO Roundtable on Cancer.”

The theme of the 2014 gala is HOPE For The Future and will highlight Project HOPE’s achievements and future plans in its Women’s and Children’s Health practice area, one of five global health practice areas in which the organization specializes.  Project HOPE has a 55-year legacy of providing health care and humanitarian assistance in over 100 countries.  In partnership with a committed global community – including U.S. and foreign governments, global corporations, foundations and individual donors – tremendous advances have been made.

 

About the 2014 Project HOPE Global Health Awards Recipients

 

The Project HOPE Global Health Leadership Award recognizes an individual who has championed health issues around the world. José Miguel Bonetti, the award’s recipient, is president of Grupo SID. Currently he promotes health and education issues through two foundations sponsored by Grupo SID.  For the past 5 years, the Group has helped, through EducaSID, more than 10,000 children through incentive programs as well as donating to each one all supplies needed for one school year.  Through “Fundacion Caminantes por La Vida” (Walk for Life), more than 20,000 lives have been touched in the fight against cancer through donations of medications and infrastructure for specialized hospitals as well as education in prevention.  Mr. Bonetti is co-founder of the Order of Malta Dominican Republic, which partners with Project HOPE to work on significant health projects in the country.

 

Dr. Maciej Kowalczyk is being presented with The Project HOPE Global Health Partner Award in recognition of his time and dedication to the fields of pediatric and nuclear medicine. After earning his M.D. and specializing in pediatrics, he branched out into nuclear medicine, fulfilling hospital duties and working in a rural outpatient health care center. In 1994, Dr. Kowalczyk established the Polyclinic Outpatient Facility. He has twice served as a Project HOPE fellow, during which he received training in nuclear medicine in the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and at Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. A member of the International Board of Regents and the International Association for Humanitarian Medicine Brock Chisholm, Dr. Kowalczyk is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the “You are not alone” TVN Foundation that helps children in need.  Since 2000, Dr. Kowalczyk has been serving as the Director of the University Children’s Hospital of Krakow, Poland. His major goal is to modernize and upgrade the almost 50-year-old hospital so that state-of-the art services in all pediatric specialties can be offered to all patients.

 

The CEO Roundtable on Cancer, the recipient of the The Project HOPE Global Health Impact Award, is a nonprofit organization comprised of chief executives from more than 30 major American companies across a range of industries that are committed to fighting cancer. Founded in 2001 by Robert A. Ingram, the organization was formed at the request of President George H.W. Bush, who urged Ingram to organize a group of action-oriented chief executives. Since then, members of the CEO Roundtable have collaborated to develop and implement initiatives that reduce the risk of cancer, enable early diagnosis, provide better access to treatment, and support the discovery of more effective diagnostic tools and cancer therapies.

 

About Project HOPE

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health crises, with the mission of helping people to help themselves.  Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and health education programs in 35 countries on five continents.