[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 20 (Thursday, February 16, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1445-S1446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE LIFE OF DR. NORMAN SHUMWAY
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 377, which was submitted
earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 377) honoring the life of Dr. Norman
Shumway and expressing the condolences of the Senate on his
passing.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, S. Res. 377 is the resolution honoring the
life of Dr. Norman Shumway and expressing condolences on behalf of this
body.
I wish to pay tribute to a medical pioneer, a man who inaugurated a
new era of medicine, my mentor in surgery and friend. Sadly, Dr.
Shumway passed away late last week at the age of 83. He left behind a
legacy as an inspirational leader, a healer, a guiding spirit who made
my own professional field of heart transplants a reality. When all
those around him said it was impossible, said it was a pipe dream, said
it couldn't be done, his vision and his determination and his
unrelenting commitment and pioneer attitude has saved thousands and
thousands of lives.
I had the distinct honor of studying under the tutelage of Dr.
Shumway at Stanford University Medical Center in the early 1980s. I
witnessed his rare gifts. Those gifts included a blend of long-term
thinking, a love of medicine and healing, and a true pioneering spirit
that inspired and attracted like-minded individuals from across the
country and, indeed, around the world.
He was fond of remarking that his role as a surgeon was comparable to
that of being the world's greatest first surgical assistant in the
operating room. When you are treating a patient, when you are operating
on a patient, the surgeon stands on one side of the table and the first
assistant across the way on the other side. It is that image of Dr.
Shumway, on the other side, instructing, teaching, cultivating that
expertise in the young surgeon, that stands out most vividly in my
mind, the constant cajoling and instructing in very gentle, humble
ways, the certainty of that guiding hand which would reach over if
there was a slightly wrong move or a hesitant move that was made. I
think his comment about being the world's greatest first assistant
reflects that humility but also that comfort level and that competence
that, coupled with his pioneering spirit, has proved to be
revolutionary in the field of medicine and surgery. Now his humble, yet
visionary, work is reflected in surgical programs all over the world
because he was that first assistant, as he instructed and taught and
inspired. Those surgeons he trained are now literally populating
academic and clinical programs all over this country and indeed
throughout the world. He loved his role as healer, and he cherished the
opportunity not only to operate and to innovative but to inspire and to
plant seeds, all a part of his mode of inspirational teaching.
I have worked with a lot of cardiac surgeons, heart surgeons, in
programs around the world, including Boston, MA, over in England, out
on the west coast, down in the South at Vanderbilt and, more than
anybody I interacted with over the 20 years I have spent in medicine,
Dr. Shumway was the one, was the single one, who had the broadest, as
well as the deepest, influence because of his unparalleled commitment
to teaching in an inspirational way that encouraged others to go out
and teach and to spread the word and to spread the technique and to
spread what he indeed pioneered: heart transplantation, lung
transplantation, heart-lung transplantation.
He was a brilliant man, a pioneering spirit. Yet he was always
accessible. He was always there on rounds. He believed in the team
approach, of relying on the technician running the heart-lung machine,
relying on the nurses who, with him, made rounds each morning and each
evening to see his patients.
His teachings were filled with turns of phrases and catchy one-liners
and, in my own mind, as I stand here and recall listening to him, he
would say things such as: Never be afraid to double dribble. I think
about it a lot because what he was saying was if that first stitch you
are about ready to put in isn't perfect, put in another stitch; don't
be so bold, don't be so confident,
[[Page S1446]]
don't be so cocky, where if you have a question you don't make
absolutely sure that something is perfect. Never be afraid to double
dribble.
Dr. Shumway looked for somebody who had the passion for healing, and
he would encourage their active pursuits. It is almost as if he had a
sixth sense, both for inspiration but also in recognizing in others an
ability or a desire to be innovative, to create, to think outside of
the box in order to benefit humanity.
He considered it part of his mission to nurture and cultivate his
trainees' ambition and their drive and their desire. It didn't matter
what your age was. It didn't matter what schools you had gone to. It
didn't matter whether you were a first-year resident, an intern, or a
fifth-year resident; if you had a good idea, if you had a creative
idea, he would nurture it and he would put an environment around you to
allow that idea to grow, to prove itself, to go down in defeat. He
would even set up a laboratory around an intern or a first-year
resident who had a creative idea that he thought just may work.
It was a very different mentality than most people in his field of
surgery in medicine. The traditional medical establishment, as I
mentioned earlier, thought heart transplantation could never be done.
Yet that sort of ``a little bit out of the box'' thinking, that
pioneering spirit, did inspire some of the great innovations in
medicine in the 20th century: Heart transplants, which he is known for,
with the first successful heart transplant in our country--it came at
the era I was there--the combined heart-lung transplant, where
essentially you remove all of the organs from the top of the chest down
to the diaphragm, taking that heart-lung out to transplant and repair
and to have it replaced to give life to individuals with otherwise
fatal diseases; the early work with left ventricular assist devices;
the invention of the cardiac biopsy, where the catheter is inserted
through the neck and you can actually sample pieces of the heart with a
technique that takes literally about 2 or 3 minutes but allows you to
determine whether a patient is rejecting that heart or has inflammation
of that heart; the immunosuppressive protocols which made heart
transplantation possible. These were all pioneering fields he jumped
into, that he created, that he explored, and he did so with a
disciplined approach, a scientific approach, an approach characterized
by perseverance over a long period of time, in spite of a lot of people
questioning and putting forth doubts as he went forward.
In talking to a number of people who asked about this man and what
his contributions have been, it has come to my attention, as I reflect
upon it, that he has also encouraged people to go out and explore new
fields. Some of the cardiac surgeons he trained--one went into public
service for a period of time, but others went on to become lawyers, to
become heads of the great universities of the country and, indeed of
the world. Given the unique type of drive that inspired a person to
study with Dr. Shumway, it is probably not all that unexpected because
he did encourage people to figure out what their strengths were and how
they could better humanity--whether it is the scientist in the
laboratory, whether it is the clinical surgeon, whether it is the
academic surgeon, whether it is the lawyer who ultimately best
understood the delivery of health care and went off to participate in
legal aspects of health care today.
He also encouraged people to take risks, and to take risks in a very
positive way, because if people did not work outside of their comfort
zone he felt progress could never be made. But encouraging people to
take those risks, he did so with science, with a strong foundation,
with a good understanding of what limitations are, with a strong
understanding of cost and risk and benefits. But that element of risk
taking, calculated risk taking, is a legacy he has left many of us, and
many of the people who have trained with him--thinking and saying and
believing that is the only way progress in society takes place.
Dr. Shumway was a legend in his field and his presence will be sorely
missed. As I look back, I would never have had that blessing, and it is
a blessing, to be able to transplant the human heart and I would have
never transplanted a human heart if I had not had the opportunity to
study under Dr. Norman Shumway. I would have never in my life been able
to transplant the human lung, to give life to people who have an
otherwise fatal disease, if I had not trained with and studied under
Dr. Norman Shumway. I would have never put in any left ventricular
assist devices for struggling, ailing hearts when people have had
massive heart attacks. I would have never been able to do neonatal
transplants on little infants. I mention those only because without
that man and his vision, his philosophy of conceiving something and
believing in it and doing it, it would have affected my life greatly.
Indeed, in all likelihood I would not be on the floor of the Senate
today if I had not had that exposure to Dr. Norman Shumway.
Having had the honor of working with him, he was an inspirational
leader. He was the guiding light who seemed to be able to pull it all
together with his vision and with his determination and his dedication.
He has affected the lives of thousands and indeed hundreds of thousands
of people through his teaching and through his training around the
world.
He was my mentor, he was a great surgeon and a true friend, and
someone I will miss dearly.
I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the
preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the
table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 377) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 377
Whereas Norman Shumway was an inspirational leader and
medical pioneer;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway performed the first successful
heart transplant in the United States, and was considered the
father of heart transplantation in America;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway's seminal work with Dr Richard
Lower at Stanford Medical Center set in motion the longest
and most successful clinical cardiac transplant program in
the world;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway co-edited a definitive book on
thoracic organ transplantation along with his daughter who is
also a cardiac surgeon;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway continued to research the
medical complexities of heart transplants when many were
abandoning the procedure because of poor outcomes due to
rejection;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway trained hundreds of surgeons who
have gone on to lead academic and clinical cardiac surgical
programs around the world;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway served our country in the United
States Army from 1943 to 1946, and in the United States Air
Force from 1951 to 1953;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway earned his medical degree from
Vanderbilt University in 1949, and his doctorate from the
University of Minnesota in 1956;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway was awarded with numerous
honorary degrees by his peers, including the American Medical
Association's Scientific Achievement Award and the Lifetime
Achievement Award of the International Society for Heart and
Lung Transplantation;
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway is survived by his son, Michael,
and three daughters, Amy, Lisa and Sara, and his former wife,
Mary Lou; and
Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway has left a legacy of life around
the world thanks to his tireless work of understanding and
perfecting heart transplantation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) mourns the loss of Dr. Norman Shumway;
(2) recognizes his contribution to medical science and
discovery;
(3) expresses its sympathies to the family of Dr. Norman
Shumway; and
(4) directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an
enrolled copy of this resolution to the family of Dr. Norman
Shumway.
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