[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 30 (Monday, March 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E433]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO J. MICHAEL BISHOP ON THE RECEIPT OF HIS NATIONAL MEDAL OF 
                                SCIENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                               TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 14, 2005

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to J. Michael Bishop, 
the Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, which is 
located in my Congressional district, on his receiving the National 
Medal of Science. Chancellor Bishop, one of the 2003 National Medal of 
Science winners, will receive his medal in a ceremony in the East Room 
of the White House today. He and the other recipients are being honored 
for their devotion to advancing our knowledge of science.
  The National Medal of Science was established in 1959 as a 
Presidential Award to be given to individuals ``deserving of special 
recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge 
in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.'' 
Congress later expanded this recognition to include the social and 
behavioral sciences. The National Science Foundation, an independent 
federal agency, administers this honor, the highest award in science 
given by the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, Chancellor Bishop's biography truly reads like a Horatio 
Alger tale. He spent the first eight years of his educational life in a 
two-room schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania and graduated from high 
school as part of a class of 80 students. He entered Gettysburg College 
hoping to become a doctor, but by the time of graduation he didn't 
think he wanted to practice medicine. However, he was interested in 
becoming an educator and after entering Harvard Medical School he knew 
he found his calling in research.
  Since then Chancellor Bishop has distinguished himself in the 
biomedical field. Thirty six years ago, he chose to take an assistant 
professorship at a relatively new college on the west coast. He has not 
left the University of California, San Francisco since. He started as 
an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology working on the 
replication of poliovirus, but it was his work in oncology has been 
groundbreaking. In 1982 he won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic 
Medical Research, and in 1989 he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or 
Medicine. Both awards were shared with Harold Varmus for research that 
led to the discovery of proto-oncogenes, normal genes that can be 
converted to cancer genes by genetic damage. He became the eighth 
chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco in July of 
1998.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent a part of the Bay Area, home to 
some of the finest schools in the nation. Proof of which can be seen in 
the fact that three of the eight recipients of the 2003 National Medal 
of Science work at schools in the Bay Area. In addition to Chancellor 
Bishop, Charles Yanofsky, of Stanford University, won an award for the 
biological sciences, and John Prausnitz of the University of California 
at Berkeley, was awarded a medal for engineering.
  Mr. Speaker, in an area of the world which is home to some of the 
best and brightest minds in the world, Chancellor J. Michael Bishop 
stands at the top. This extraordinary academic and exceptional human 
being fully deserves to be honored by our nation for his work in 
oncology. It is my hope, and I am sure it is the hope of all of our 
colleagues Mr. Speaker, that one day his research will lead to a cure 
for cancer. I am delighted to pay tribute to Chancellor J. Michael 
Bishop on the day of his receipt of the National Medal of Science.

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