[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 124 (Wednesday, September 22, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1922-E1923]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE HERMELIN BRAIN TUMOR CENTER--NEW HOPE FOR CANCER PATIENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 22, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, this year in the United States some 20,000 
new cases of primary brain tumors will be diagnosed, and more than 
100,000 cases of cancer migrating to the brain from a different site 
will be found. Traditional treatment regimens of surgery, chemotherapy, 
and radiation have not stopped the natural progression of the disease 
in far too many cases, and new therapies are desperately needed.
  Finding new treatments often means years of laboratory investigation, 
followed by both clinical trials and the examination of results, before 
such therapies can be deemed successful and made available to patients.

[[Page E1923]]

Speeding up this process is of vital importance to innumerable cancer 
patients. With this in mind, friends and family of David B. Hermelin 
have pledged $10 million to launch a brain tumor research center at 
Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
   Mr. Speaker, David Hermelin is the United States Ambassador to 
Norway, and earlier this year he was successfully treated for a brain 
tumor. Currently, he is undergoing therapy at the Henry Ford Hospital. 
The funds donated in his name will launch the Hermelin Brain Tumor 
Center, housed within the Department of Neurosurgery. The center will 
be directed by Mark L. Rosenblum, M.D., Chair of the Department of 
Neurosurgery, and by Tom Mikkelsen, M.D., of the Departments of 
Neurology and Neurosurgery.
  ``The center at Henry Ford Hospital is now positioned to make a 
significant impact on this disease,'' said Dr. Rosenblum. ``With state-
of-the-art technology for diagnosis and surgery, with continual ability 
to provide the most advanced surgery and treatments available, and with 
new discoveries from our research team, we are confident we will be 
able to change life-threatening brain tumors into a chronic, 
controllable disease like diabetes.''
  The Hermelin Brain Tumor Center will support three main areas of 
novel investigation to help control brain tumors: (1) antiinvasion 
therapy (which stops a tumor from invading healthy brain tissues), (2) 
gene therapy (which uses scientifically engineered viruses which 
recognize and kill cancer cells), and (3) antiangiogenesis (which stops 
a tumor from building its network of blood vessels, effectively 
starving it). In addition, the Center will sponsor annual brain tumor 
workshops focusing on each of these three areas of research. Brain 
tumor scientists from around the world will be invited to share their 
knowledge and compete for a research grant, thus providing new ways to 
share novel findings and to use these findings to fund research that 
will bring new treatments to patients in the most rapid possible 
manner.
   Mr. Speaker, David Hermelin is an outstanding citizen of our Nation, 
and as United States Ambassador to Norway, he has made an important 
contribution to strengthening traditional good relations between our 
country and Norway. In addition, he is a leading philanthropist who has 
spearheaded major fund-raising efforts which have garnered millions of 
dollars for academic, medical, civic, religious and charitable 
organizations. The Hermelin Brain Tumor Center is a fitting and unique 
recognition of his generous contributions. I invite my colleagues to 
join me in honoring Ambassador David Hermelin and recognizing the 
importance of the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center.

                          ____________________