Message from our founder, Bob detrano:

In 2004 I traveled to Beijing while on sabbatical from my work as a cardiologist at the University of California at Irvine. In Beijing I began work at the Fu Wai Hospital & Cardiovascular Research Institute. In the winter of 2005 I took a solo bicycling vacation through rural Yunnan Province, one of the poorest parts of China. Two days into my journey I was invited to a pre-nuptial party in an impoverished village. The road was long and I arrived as the sun was setting. The bride’s family fed me and treated me like one of their family members. They offered a bed in their poor home, a home that had no running water and no electricity. Heat came from a wood fire on the floor; there was no chimney. The village had no doctor, only an abandoned clinic. The family refused the money I offered as payment. Their hospitality, in the face of great hardship, was my inspiration to work with poor farmers in South East Asia.

Over the past 15 years China California Heart Watch has made a significant difference for the rural people of Yunnan Province.  We have educated hundreds of county, town and village doctors in the treatment of heart disease and high blood pressure.  We have trained the obstetric staff of 90% of Yunnan county hospitals how to properly examine the hearts of newborn babies.  We have researched high blood pressure and congenital heart disease and have published over ten scientific reports in the medical literature.  

This year, during the October Chinese National Day celebrations, I was awarded the highest award a foreign expert working in China can receive - the China Government Friendship Award - by the Chinese vice premier  for the accomplishments of our organization.  Because of China Cal, rural Yunnan Province is now healthier and local doctors are better trained for dealing with the heart problems of infants and children.

We are now turning our attention to a pervasive problem south of the Chinese border, which has arisen as a result of continuing conflict within Burma (Myanmar), especially as it has affected numerous minority groups within the country.  We will address the problem of untreated rheumatic and congenital heart disease among Burmese rural refugee children on the Thai Burma border and within eastern Burma.  

The China California Heart Watch is partnering with the Mae Tao Clinic, Burma Children’s Medical Fund and with Help Without Frontiers, all in Mae Sot, Thailand, to find and treat children with heart disease.

In 2020, China Cal will screen the hearts of ten thousand Burmese refugee school children and find support for surgical cures for all those found with heart disease.

We need your help now. Please donate to the China California Heart Watch. Donations of any amount are much needed and are welcome.

Please help us.

Sincerely Yours,

Robert Detrano, M.D., Ph.D.

CEO and Chair, China California Heart Watch