[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12635-S12636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           DR. DAVID SATCHER

 Mr. GLENN. Mr. President, I deeply regret that we have been 
unable to vote on the nomination of Dr. David Satcher as the Surgeon 
General and the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Public Health Service.
  As a graduate of Ohio's medical school system, Dr. Satcher is truly a 
commendable choice for our next Surgeon General. The expediency of his 
nomination process gives an overwhelming indication of the impressive 
and extensive reach of his medical career. It is a career in which Dr. 
Satcher has placed considerable emphasis on the medically impoverished. 
He has demonstrated an unrelenting compassion for those less fortunate, 
and to quote Dr. Frist, ``allowed science to drive his decision 
making'' throughout his brilliant career.
  Born in rural Alabama his interest in medicine grew after a near-
fatal bout with whooping cough at the age of 2. Even though his parents 
had only the benefit of elementary educations, they instilled in him 
the passion and drive to pursue his dreams. He received his B.S. from 
Morehouse College and became the first African-American to earn both an 
MD and a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University, while being 
elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society
  After excelling in medical school, Dr. Satcher began his career at 
the Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Center in Los Angeles. There he 
developed and chaired King-Drew's Department of Family Medicine and 
served as the interim dean of the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical 
School. As interim dean, he directed the King-Drew Sickle Cell Center 
for 6 years and negotiated the agreement with the UCLA School of 
Medicine and the Board of Regents.
  Before being appointed to his current position of Director of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Dr. Satcher returned 
to Atlanta to chair the Community Medicine Department at Morehouse 
School of Medicine, where he received the Watts Grassroots Award for 
Community Service in 1979. He then served as the president of Meharry 
Medical College in Nashville for the following decade. While at 
Meharry, he was the recipient of the National Conference of Christians 
and Jews Human Relations Award was elected to the Institute of Medicine 
of the National Academy of Sciences, and was appointed to the Council 
on Graduate Medical Education.

[[Page S12636]]

  In November 1993, Dr. Satcher was appointed as the Director of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. With policies he 
initiated, he has been credited with increasing child immunization 
rates from 52 percent to a record 78 percent in 1996, and improving the 
Nation's capacity to respond to emerging infectious diseases. During 
his tenure, the CDC has placed considerable emphasis on prevention 
programs as its breast and cervical cancer programs have now been 
expanded to all 50 States. In his current position, Dr. Satcher has 
garnered even more awards, including Ebony magazine's American Black 
Achievement Award in Business and the Professions, the Breslow Award 
for Excellence in Public Health, and recently the Dr. Nathan B. Davis 
Award for outstanding public service to advance the public health and 
the John Stearns Award for Lifetime Achievement in Medicine from the 
New York Academy of Medicine.
  I believe HHS Secretary Dr. Donna Shalala described Dr. Satcher in 
the best manner, when she said that he brings ``world-class stature, 
management skill, integrity, and preventive health care experience'' to 
any office or title he may hold. President Clinton has stated that Dr. 
Satcher should concentrate heavily on reducing smoking, particularly 
among children. As an advocate for preventive health in family 
medicine, Dr. Satcher has worked to heighten awareness about all 
American's health and will continue to do so.
  Mr. President, I believe that Dr. Satcher will bring the same 
professionalism, dedication, skill, and most of all character to this 
new position that he has shown throughout his professional career. I 
strongly urge my colleagues to support his nomination to the post of 
Surgeon General of the United States.

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