[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 62 (Thursday, May 18, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E765-E766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING DR. LOVELL A. JONES, PhD, WINNER OF THE LEGACY OF LEADERSHIP 
                                 AWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEN BENTSEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 18, 2000

  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Dr. Lovell A. Jones, for 
winning Howard University Hospital's Legacy of Leadership Award for 
Distinguished Health Care Advocate. This award is a fitting tribute to 
Dr. Jones, who has made outstanding contributions in quality health 
care and advocacy for the medically underserved and the socio-
economically disadvantaged for more than two decades.
  Dr. Jones has been a true visionary in Houston's medical community 
and throughout the nation. I am particularly proud that it was in my 
Congressional District that Dr. Jones first began his ground-breaking 
work to address the unequal science and unequal treatment affecting 
health care for minorities and the medically underserved.
  It was almost 15 years ago that Dr. Jones began planning the first 
Biennial Symposium on Minorities and Cancer. As a Biochemist and 
Professor of Experimental Gynecology and Endocrinology at the UT M.D. 
Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Jones rolled up his sleeves to research why 
it was that minorities and the socio-economically disadvantaged were 
experiencing disproportionately high mortality rates from the diseases. 
He discovered a variety of reasons why certain communities have to bear 
the unequal burden of cancer, including the fact that these underserved 
communities are often diagnosed in later stages of the disease; are 
provided with only limited access to health care, and are without 
financial resources. Dr. Jones already understood that poor people, no 
matter what their ethnic background, place less emphasis on health care 
when having to deal with the harsh realities of poverty on a daily 
basis.
  Dr. Jones has been on the forefront of activities to address the 
obstacles that ethnic minorities and medically underserved individuals 
face in seeking effective treatments for their illnesses. He inspires 
those of us in Congress to remain committed to helping our medical 
institutions continue their life-saving cutting-edge research.
  Dr. Jones' efforts to help those with cancer in medically underserved 
and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities have gone beyond study 
and into heartfelt activism, transforming him into a leading health 
care advocate. He is establishing a Center of Excellence for Research 
on Minority Health at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer 
Center, and Dr. Jones co-founded the Intercultural Cancer Center (ICC), 
which has become the largest multicultural and multidisciplinary 
coalition addressing the unequal burden of cancer in minority and 
medically underserved areas in the United States. Leading cancer and 
community experts from academia, federal and state government 
representatives, clinicians, researchers, public health researchers, 
survivors and advocates hold Biennial Symposium to address cancer in 
minority and medically underserved communities throughout the nation. 
The symposia eventually grew

[[Page E766]]

so big that they had to move them from Houston to Washington, DC. This 
year's symposium, which emphasized the problem of cancer in all ethnic 
minority communities--African-American, Hispanic, Native-American, 
Alaskan native, Pacific Islander and Asian-American--attracted more 
than 1200 people, and marked the largest participation ever.
  Mr. Speaker, Howard University Hospital could not have chosen a 
better candidate to honor for the Distinguished Health Care Advocate 
Award. Lovell Jones inspires us all to strive to truly live up to the 
ICC's motto of ``Speaking with One Voice,'' because we believe that the 
burden of cancer rests with all of us. Throughout his career, Dr. Jones 
has stressed that in this country, as a united community of Americans, 
the working poor and minority populations should not have to suffer 
disproportionately.
  Dr. Lovell Jones has said that it is his dream that we will finally 
``become a society where we will not tie people's value to their skin 
color and/or status in life.'' His hope is that one day we will address 
the needs of all Americans, so that our efforts to address the special 
needs of minorities and the medically underserved will no longer be 
necessary.
  But until that day, we can all be grateful that we have Dr. Lovell A. 
Jones.

                          ____________________