<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"&amp;amp;#8220;What got to me most was the smell,&amp;amp;#8221; says pediatrician Jane Aronson of her years touring overseas orphanages in the nineties, &amp;amp;#8220;that terrible odor of filth and illness and neglect.&amp;amp;#8221; Once home, she couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t shake the sights she&amp;amp;#8217;d seen: famished, sore-covered babies in Romania; glassy-eyed AIDS-doomed kids in Vietnam. &amp;amp;#8220;I couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t take it anymore,&amp;amp;#8221; says Aronson. &amp;amp;#8220;There was no way I was going to continue practicing medicine without helping the kids left behind.&amp;amp;#8221; Her solution: Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO), which she started in 1997. Within a few years WWO was providing AIDS drugs for HIV positive children in Ethiopia and Vietnam&amp;amp;#8212;one of the first organizations of any type to do that; launching the &amp;amp;#8220;orphan rangers,&amp;amp;#8221; essentially a Peace Corps through which volunteers work in orphanages; and building a school in Ethiopia. Today Aronson is credited with bringing the plight of orphans and the importance of adoption to the world&amp;amp;#8217;s attention. &amp;amp;#8220;She shone a spotlight on what we should be doing,&amp;amp;#8221; says adoption expert Adam Pertman, head of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. &amp;amp;#8220;A lot of people give lip service to wanting to make the world better for children. She actually does it.&amp;amp;#8221; As an advocate, Aronson has improved the lives of 20,000 kids; as a doctor, she saves them one at a time. From her small Manhattan office, wallpapered with photos of smiling children, the jeans-clad pediatrician works with adopting parents&amp;amp;#8212;including celebs like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt&amp;amp;#8212;giving them the medical and emotional support they need to ensure that their new family can work. &amp;amp;#8220;Dr. Aronson gave us courage,&amp;amp;#8221; says Meg D&amp;amp;#8217;Ariano, who adopted a now perfectly healthy girl from China after being told the baby had insurmountable health problems. &amp;amp;#8220;She said, &amp;amp;#8216;Go get her.&amp;amp;#8217;&amp;amp;#8221; A parent to two adopted children, Aronson is determined to show the world&amp;amp;#8217;s orphans that she will always look out for them. She notes that she&amp;amp;#8217;s learned to say &amp;amp;#8220;see you soon&amp;amp;#8221; to the kids in six languages. &amp;amp;#8220;I never say goodbye.&amp;amp;#8221; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/inspired/women-of-the-year/2009/jane-aronson>