-By Holly Richmond, Photography courtesy of AmeriCares

With the tagline, "A passion to help. The ability to deliver," AmeriCares prides itself on modeling the global strength of collaboration and partnership. As a nonprofit international disaster relief and humanitarian organization, its mission is to deliver medicine and medical supplies to people in crisis around the world. Since its founding in 1982, AmeriCares has distributed more than $8 billion in humanitarian aid to 137 countries.

While the extent of the partnering and collaboration that facilitates such services is far-reaching and includes thousands of U.S. and international physicians, administrators, and coordinators, one man, Dr. Frank Bia, AmeriCares' medical director, is charged with the task of overseeing the planning, assessment, resourcing, and clinical operations of the organization's Global Programs Operations. In essence, Bia's job is to ensure that the correct supplies get to the appropriate locations, and once there, that they are rapidly distributed and put to use. His, and AmeriCares', ultimate goal is to save thousands of lives that hang in the balance of devastating natural and man-made disasters. "I think if you are going to make a contribution and make a difference, it's better to look from the outside," states Bia. "I'm a kid from the Bronx, and it's a privilege that I got to become a physician. There is a social contract that must be fulfilled, and I've always seen this contract through a worldwide lens."

As an expert in infectious disease and international health, Bia spent much of his career—more than 30 years—at Yale University School of Medicine where he served as a professor of both medicine in infectious diseases and laboratory medicine in clinical microbiology, as well as the co-director of the university's International Health Program. Prior to his tenure at Yale, he received degrees from Cornell Medical College, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the University of Pennsylvania, and he honed his skills in remote regions including Haiti, China, Columbia, Iran, and Thailand. Bia explains that it has always been important to him to translate his knowledge into real-world experience, particularly on a global level. He laughs as he recalls, "A professor once said to me, 'I need to remind you that this is a medical school, not a travel agency.' But I see medicine and travel as fundamentally intertwined."

Bia joined AmeriCares as medical director on January 1, 2008, and since that time has been challenged by numerous disasters and crises. One of the biggest was Cyclone Nargis, which battered Myanmar, killing an estimated 138,000 people and leaving 2.5 million survivors in need of medical aid, food, water, and shelter. The AmeriCares team in Myanmar navigated the complicated situation of securing permissions to land the supply aircraft in Yangon, and maintain custody of the cargo. With prior experience delivering to isolated countries, including North Korea and Sudan, the team established relationships with high-level officials in several government ministries. They succeeded in securing landing permits, then, persistently and delicately negotiated supply distribution to partner organizations providing healthcare in the region.

"Though these types of situations are extremely sensitive, navigating the political landscape is not as difficult as you might think because we do not have a political agenda," says Bia. He goes on to explain that AmeriCares' mission is only to support and serve through the effective distribution of medical aid, and that they "fly below the radar," which is where many governments want them in order to avoid press attention. "My job is to get the right supplies to the right places, not to have a political point of view, which helps us not to be seen as a target. I firmly believe the umbrella under which we are working affects how safe we are and the difference we can make to the people who desperately need it."

However, he does concede to substantial risk in the bigger picture of humanitarian aid services and the collaboration that occurs therein. AmeriCares, fundamentally, is the go-between for goods and services, and therefore their staffs' role as facilitators is much less treacherous than the providers on the ground. Bia explains, "For example, we put products on the shelves in the clinics in Darfur, but the people working for our partner organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children, who provide hands-on aid, are much more at risk."

AmeriCares' success is dependent on mindful collaboration with pharmaceutical manufacturers, financial donors, government ministries, international and local NGOs, and healthcare providers in every region of the world. As the organization's medical director, Bia serves as a visionary and forward-thinking facilitator of global medical care. He envisions his future as a lifelong continuation of learning and sharing with younger generations of physicians and humanitarians. "Medicine isn't all about medicine," he states. "We need to look at anthropology and sociology and other disciplines, and incorporate our global knowledge into a working model of care, not a Western model of care."

At the age of 63, Bia is still wholeheartedly dedicated to traveling the world to fulfill his social contract and ensure AmeriCares' mission of delivering medicine and medical supplies. Over his extensive career he has learned to speak Spanish, Italian, Haitian, Creole, Greek, and very limited Farsi. "All I can say when I greet my friends in Iran is, 'Take a deep breath!'"

It is this youthful spirit and vivacious perspective that keeps Bia inspired, as well as inspiring to those around him. "I work with good people who want to do good things," he concludes. "It's not magic. I believe it is actually as simple as 'What goes around, comes around.'"