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Dr. Jane Aronson
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Dr. Jane Aronson is an internationally-renowned pediatrician specializing in orphaned children and Founder and CEO of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO). Known as the “Orphan Doctor,” Dr. Aronson has been a practicing adoption medicine specialist for nearly 20 years, and has evaluated more than 10,000 adopted children.

In 1997, she founded Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO), a U.S.-based international nongovernmental organization dedicated to transforming the lives of orphaned children worldwide by addressing their unique needs through medical, developmental, psychosocial and educational programs. WWO has established humanitarian programs in Haiti, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Serbia, and Vietnam.

Dr. Aronson is a sought-after expert and has been at the forefront of media coverage on the world’s orphans and overseas adoption. She is an outspoken advocate for public policies that strengthen the protection and well-being of orphans worldwide. Additionally, she serves as the Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Dr. Aronson received the Congressional Angel in Adoption Award in 2000 and was honored on November 2009 by GLAMOUR magazine as one of 10 Women of the Year. She is a parent through adoption and has two sons, Benjamin, 10 years old, from Viet Nam and Desalegn, 12 years old, from Ethiopia.

For more information on WWO, please visit www.wwo.org

Blog Entries by Dr. Jane Aronson

A Golf Outing Benefitting Orphans

(0) Comments | Posted May 20, 2013 | 9:52 AM

Seventy golfers from the United States and Canada joined together on Monday, May 13, 2013 at the Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville, New Jersey, to raise awareness and money for the orphans served by Worldwide Orphans Foundation.

The night before the "shotgun tournament" was so cold that there was...

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"Caregiver's Day" in an Orphanage in Ethiopia

(0) Comments | Posted May 14, 2013 | 1:47 PM

Happy Mother's Day was an all-day greeting last Sunday. "Right back at you," I replied. Not knowing who was a mother was tricky for me because I wouldn't want to make a mistake. I like to say Happy Mother's Day to male friends of mine actually. I wish that there...

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Being a 'Mama': My Most Important Job in Life

(0) Comments | Posted May 9, 2013 | 3:30 PM

Like all mothers, I remember my first Mother's Day. It was May 13, 2001. Benjamin, my youngest son, had just been adopted from Vietnam. He couldn't make me a card or buy me a gift, but holding him in my arms when he was all of 11 months old was...

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In the Hollywood Hills: Closing Our Eyes and Looking at the World of Orphans

(0) Comments | Posted May 6, 2013 | 12:24 PM

How do you share the world of orphans with a roomful of supporters halfway around the world? I was faced with this challenge as I attended a Worldwide Orphans fundraiser at the iconic John Lautner Garcia House in the Hollywood Hills.

The setting was dramatic. The John Lautner Garcia House...

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'Mommy and Me' in Haiti

(0) Comments | Posted April 3, 2013 | 6:38 PM

Why do I love Haiti so much? I can't say all the reasons why, but I can tell you that I am addicted because of the success of our work. In a matter of hours and some minutes we can be in Port-au-Prince and climb up the mountain to Kenscoff...

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Witness Uganda Review: A New Musical Probes the World of International Development

(0) Comments | Posted February 19, 2013 | 5:59 PM

The arts can give us radical insight into our world. Now, a new play is shedding light on the complexities of international aid work.

"Witness Uganda" by Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews is the world's first musical documentary, based on the true life story of Griffin Matthews and his...

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Abinet: From Orphan to Philanthropist

(0) Comments | Posted February 18, 2013 | 10:29 AM

My favorite notes, whether snail mail or email, are from former families from my pediatric practice. I have been a doctor since 1982 when I took my Hippocratic oath, and since then, I have collected memories and kept hard copies of some of these contacts. A lot of the notes...

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Amy Poehler in Haiti

(1) Comments | Posted January 9, 2013 | 9:56 AM

I met Amy Poehler at the Glamour Awards in 2009. We were two of 12 Women of the Year, and we bonded immediately. I was a fan of her work at Saturday Night Live and was very excited about meeting her that night. At dinner, she just about begged me...

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More on Wadley and His Family: What Every Child Needs

(0) Comments | Posted January 7, 2013 | 2:40 PM

On our last day in Haiti, the team wanted to go back and say goodbye to the children. I wasn't sure about this, actually. I think that I was afraid to say goodbye. Yeah, you heard me. I was so vulnerable on Saturday, that I wasn't sure that I could...

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Wadley, a Three-Year-Old Boy with Clinical Depression

(0) Comments | Posted January 7, 2013 | 2:30 PM

I was in Haiti last week visiting Worldwide Orphans Foundation's (WWO) program sites, as well as forging a partnership with Fundafield.org, which helps build soccer fields/programs in developing countries. Along with Kyle Weiss, his mother Lisa and sister Kira, our group of travelers included Amy Poehler, our new...

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Service Is Simple

(0) Comments | Posted January 7, 2013 | 2:17 PM

As the founder and CEO of Worldwide Orphans Foundation, I travel to our programs all over the world. I enjoy my site visits for many reasons, but most importantly, it's because I love knowing the children we serve. To sit and play with children takes me away from everything and...

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Imagining My Children as Orphans: Where Is Our Humanity?

(20) Comments | Posted December 31, 2012 | 2:01 PM

With time off over the holidays and the Russian adoption ban, I have had time to think about orphans in a more personal way. I am usually eager to write about and advocate for orphans. This week I was interviewed on CNN and wrote a piece for The Daily Beast....

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Our Outcry Against the Russian Dumas Is Self-Indulgent: Go Deeper To See The Tragedy For Millions of Orphans

(229) Comments | Posted December 28, 2012 | 10:53 AM

As a pediatrician and adoption medicine specialist for the past 25 years, I am not surprised by the recent threats to close adoption in Russia yet again.

My perspective is that international adoption from Russia to the US has never been a cooperative and strategic endeavor. I have experienced yearly...

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How to Cope in a World Where Children Are Never Safe

(0) Comments | Posted December 19, 2012 | 12:08 PM

When I heard the shocking news of the killings in Newtown, Conn., I tried very hard to stay present, honest and conscious. I did not want to go to that easy place of denial. Like many, I felt on edge and very fragile.

I am always thinking about child...

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The Lost Roma Children of Bulgaria: A Meeting With Dundee Precious Metals

(0) Comments | Posted December 12, 2012 | 9:20 AM

I just returned from a short jaunt to Sofia, Bulgaria; the fastest trip I ever planned. I was so eager and filled with excitement that I actually took notice of my enthusiasm. What was so compelling about this trip as compared to my many trips to Bulgaria over the 17...

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How Are Haiti and Bulgaria the Same?

(0) Comments | Posted December 6, 2012 | 12:34 PM

This morning a sweet young girl came into the World Wide Oprhans (WWO) office in Kenscoff, Haiti and stated that she needed to give her child up and put him in an orphanage. Jacqueline, a trained WWO youth worker, and Melissa, our program manager, talked with her for about an...

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A Processional for the World's Children

(1) Comments | Posted December 6, 2012 | 8:03 AM

Imagine you are in the quiet of a cathedral or a chapel on a glorious fall day. Then imagine this solitude and peace in a school gym where parents have filed in, in an orderly fashion from a chatty social moment to be seated in their chairs. At the Far...

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'My Life Started When I Came Here': Orphans and Their Memories

(0) Comments | Posted November 30, 2012 | 10:49 AM

Children share very important feelings and thoughts about themselves at the oddest moments. You can be putting them to bed at night, or sitting with them in the car, or even folding laundry together when it happens. At bedtime, they are vulnerable and tired and close to a dream state,...

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Thanksgiving For A Newly Adopted Child: A Tribute To National Adoption Month

(0) Comments | Posted November 26, 2012 | 11:35 AM

I am reminded every year that Thanksgiving is a precious holiday for my family. Even in years of crisis and personal challenge, this day has been sacrosanct. Des, my now 14-year-old son adopted from Ethiopia, made this holiday come alive after years of routine family gatherings. Prior years were good,...

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Death of a Baby on His Way Home From China

(4) Comments | Posted November 20, 2012 | 11:25 AM

Hello Lenore,

Please cancel our November 20 appointment with Dr. Cameron. My son Lawrence Yu Huang unfortunately died of heart failure in Hefei, China on November 1, two days after I adopted him.

Kind regards,

Denise Feldman

On November 2, I awoke at 3:33 a.m. and saw the light on...

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