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FOR RELEASE

UK Doctors go to Peru

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 12, 2008) − University of Kentucky physicians Dr. Mark Plunkett and Dr. Thomas DiSessa will travel to Arequipa, Peru with the Hearts with Hope Foundation. Plunkett is a board member of the Hearts with Hope Foundation which was established at the University of California at Los Angles (UCLA). Funding for the foundation comes from donors across the United States. In addition, health professionals from across the country participate in mission trips. The upcoming trip to Peru will include about 25 to 30 health professionals such as cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, perfusionists, nurses, critical care physicians, dentists, nutritionists, and humanitarians. They will take much needed equipment. “This is about helping children born with heart disease in a country where treatment is currently not available to them,” said Plunkett, associate professor of surgery, UK College of Medicine and co-director of the Kentucky Children's Heart Center at UK HealthCare's Kentucky Children's Hospital. “We will help as many as we can while we are there, and also educate the local physicians and health care professionals to improve their abilities to care for these kids in the future." Many of the children they will see have holes in their hearts. Plunkett will perform open heart surgery on the children during the time he is there from Sept. 12 to Sept. 23. Some children will not need heart surgery and cardiologists such as DiSessa, who will be there from Sept. 10 through Sept. 20, will perform cardiac catheterization and interventions.

An Equal Opportunity University "This mission will be of great benefit to the children of Peru with congenital heart disease," said DiSessa, professor of pediatrics, UK College of Medicine, and a pediatric cardiologist. "I am greatly pleased that I can be of assistance in helping these children." The hospital in Peru does no heart surgery for children although they do adult heart surgery. The mission of Hearts with Hope Foundation is to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to children in Latin America with congenital heart disease. The goals include education of local medical personnel in the treatment of children with congenital heart disease as well as providing educational and emotional support for their families. Outreach efforts extend to orphanages and special care facilities in the host cities. For more information about Kentucky Children's Hospital, go to Kentucky Children’s Hospital. For more information about Hearts with Hope Foundation, go to www.heartswithhope.org.

In striving to become a Top 20 public research institution, the University of Kentucky is a catalyst for a new Commonwealth – a Kentucky that is healthier, better educated, and positioned to compete in a global and changing economy. For more information about UK’s efforts to become a Top 20 university, please go to http://www.uky.edu/OPBPA/Top20.html