A Ukraine-born Houston Baptist layman is seeking to help his homeland rebuild its health care system by offering young Ukrainian medical professionals continuing education opportunities in the United States.
In addition to professional development, Rostyslav Semikov also makes sure the Ukrainian health care workers are exposed to the gospel as they interact with Christian medical specialists and educators.
RELATED: Check out more stories on ministry, outreach in Ukraine here.
“I invite them to church. And I invite them to visit with outstanding Christian professionals in the field, who share not only their professional expertise, but also about their spiritual path and their faith — their testimony of how they combine science and their faith,” Semikov said.
‘Salt and light’
When they return to Ukraine, Semikov — a physician, cancer researcher and bioscience entrepreneur — hopes the medical professionals will “be salt and light” in their nation.
“They are the future leaders of our country,” Semikov said.
Semikov, a member of West University Baptist Church/CityRise Church in Houston, is the co-founder and director of the Peace and Development Foundation.
The foundation brings Ukrainian health care professionals to the United States for two- to three-week learning experiences at institutions such as the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins University.
Since 2022, the foundation has enabled about 80 Ukrainian medical personnel to spend time at more than 20 top U.S. medical and educational institutions and attend several professional conferences.
Inspired by similar ministry nearly 20 years ago
Semikov found inspiration in the work of Ronald Hoekstra, a neonatal-perinatal pediatrician from Minneapolis, Minn., nearly two decades ago.
Hoekstra first traveled to Ukraine to introduce medical personnel there to a multispecialty team approach to caring for prematurely born babies. Semikov served as his translator and helped him connect with hospitals in Ukraine.
With Semikov’s assistance, Hoekstra then selected two neonatal pediatric doctors, two gynecologists and two nurses from Ukraine to travel to Children’s Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis for training.
“Besides sharing professional experience with them as a top expert in the field, he was also a follower of Jesus — a committed believer — and he brought them to the church where he goes,” Semikov said. “He shared with them what he does and told them he was doing it for God’s glory.”
The program continued to grow and made a significant impact on neonatal care in Ukraine, he noted.
Semikov saw the opportunity to use a similar approach for other health care workers, as well as professionals in other fields such as business and law.
In 2011, he was instrumental in the formation of the Alliance of Christian Professionals to help young doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs “grow professionally and also develop spiritually, to serve God and people through our professions,” he said.
Peace and Development Foundation formed
When funding conferences and training opportunities became challenging, Semikov and a few others saw the need to create a charitable foundation to carry on the work and expand its mission to include peacemaking initiatives.
The Peace and Development Foundation first was formed in Kyiv in July 2016 and then established in Houston in 2020 after Semikov relocated to Texas.
In the immediate aftermath of the heightened Russian assault on Ukraine in February 2022, the foundation also raised about $200,000 to provide humanitarian and medical aid for displaced people in Ukraine.
In December 2022, Bill Frist — a transplant surgeon and former majority leader in the U.S. Senate — worked with Seth Karp, surgeon-in-chief of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, to facilitate a visit of Ukrainian health care professionals to Nashville, Tennessee.
The Peace and Development Foundation enabled eight Ukrainian doctors to make the trip to observe health and lung transplant operations and learn transplant protocols at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Last year, in addition to several visits to major hospitals in the United States, the foundation helped:
- Five Ukrainian doctors attend the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Orlando, Florida.
- 10 Ukrainian physicians attend the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.
- A group of Ukrainian surgeons and cancer researchers attend the Society of Immunotherapy for Cancer annual meeting in San Diego.
Some of the visiting physicians were from Okhmatdyt National Children’s Hospital in Kyiv. In July, a Russian attack on the children’s hospital claimed the lives of 27 civilians, including four children. Another 117 people, including seven children, were injured.
Visited Houston in the spring
In April, seven Ukrainian oncologists and cancer scientists attended the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in San Diego.
They also visited the Stanford University Medical Center, the Louisiana Cancer Research Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Other visiting Ukrainian family physicians visited several educational institutions and hospitals in the Houston area.
During their visits to Houston, Semikov invited the visiting medical professionals to attend the West University Baptist Church campus of CityRise Church with him.
He arranged for them to meet two other members of West University Baptist — Stephen Spann, founding dean of the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine at the University of Houston, and James Tour, professor of chemistry, computer science, materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University.
The group of Ukrainian family physicians toured the Fertitta Family College of Medicine, met with Spann in his workplace and enjoyed a meal with him.
Tour, who teaches a Sunday school class at West University Baptist, and his wife Shireen host students for lunch after church every Sunday. Sometimes, they meet in the Tours’ garage to accommodate the large numbers who are eager to discuss spiritual issues with a renowned scientist.
“He is a great example for our young people,” Semikov said.
The Ukrainian visitors enjoyed a question-and-answer time with Tour in what Semikov called his “gospel garage.”
In particular, interacting with dedicated Christians such as Spann and Tour who are experts in their fields enables the Ukrainians to see how intellectual inquiry and faith in God can coexist, he said.
Dark past
During seven decades of Soviet communist domination of Ukraine, its people were indoctrinated in atheistic teaching, and professing Christians were denied educational and occupational opportunities, Semikov noted.
For example, after his father — who was pursuing a Ph.D. in physics — became a Christian, he was given an ultimatum. He either could renounce his faith, or give up the opportunity to defend his dissertation and receive his doctorate.
“He had to withdraw from the Ph.D. program,” Semikov said.
The Peace and Development Foundation actively seeks to bring together professional excellence, scientific inquiry, Christian faith and moral integrity, he added.
“I believe if we have leaders who are experts and who are people of integrity, that’s the way we can be salt and light in society,” he said.
Investing in the professional development of the rising generation — and introducing them to the gospel — can make a huge impact on Ukraine, he asserted.
“There may be few of them, but they can make a big difference to impact other people’s lives and bring glory to God,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ken Camp and originally published by Baptist Standard.
