[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 85 (Thursday, June 23, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING DR. ROBERT H. BARTLETT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DALE E. KILDEE

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 22, 2005

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the accomplishments of 
Dr. Robert H. Bartlett of the University of Michigan Medical Center. On 
Thursday, June 23, family and friends, including many of Dr. Bartlett's 
former patients, will gather to recognize his life and legacy.
  Renowned and respected for his roles as Professor of General and 
Thoracic Surgery at U-M Medical Center, Dr. Robert Bartlett is 
celebrated around the world for his pioneering work in the development 
of extra corporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO. ECMO, a technique 
that has paved new roads in the treatment of infant pulmonary distress, 
has saved the lives of more than 5,000 infants in the past two decades, 
and has been successfully applied to children and adults with 
reversible heart or lung failure.
  After completing his residency in Boston and serving as an instructor 
at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Bartlett became Assistant Professor of 
Surgery at the University of California-Irvine. His first 
groundbreaking use of ECMO on an infant came in 1975, with dozens more 
successful cases spanning the next 5 years. From there, Dr. Bartlett 
moved the ECMO program to Ann Arbor, MI, the city of his birth. Within 
the first 5 years at U-M Medical Center, ECMO evolved from an 
experimental procedure to the standard practice of 18 medical 
facilities nationwide.
  In addition to his work with ECMO, Dr. Bartlett has conducted 
research designed to advance lung transplantation, and is one of the 
State's leading authorities on the Koch Pouch procedure for ostomy 
patients. His peers have recognized him on many occasions, including 
the 1989 Galens Medical Society Silver Shovel Award for Outstanding 
Clinical Teacher. When not teaching, researching, or lecturing, Dr. 
Bartlett can be found as a member of the Life Science Orchestra and the 
Ann Arbor Civic Orchestra.
  Mr. Speaker, for decades, Dr. Robert Bartlett has selflessly worked 
to enhance and improve the quality of life for not only his patients, 
but for all those he has come across. I ask my colleagues to please 
join me in congratulating him on his career, and wishing him the very 
best in all his future endeavors.

                          ____________________