[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 124 (Thursday, September 28, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10450-S10451]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JAMES T. CASSIDY, MD

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, today I wish to honor and recognize 
the immeasurable contribution Dr. James T. Cassidy has made to 
pediatric medicine in Missouri and across the United States.
  Born in 1930 in Oil City, PA, Dr. Cassidy received his both 
undergraduate and medical education at the University of Michigan. He 
completed 2 years of active duty in the U.S. Navy and 7 years in the 
Naval Reserve. He returned to the University of Michigan to complete 
his residency in internal medicine and a rheumatology fellowship in the 
Rackham Arthritis Research Unit under the mentorship of Dr. Roseman and 
Dr. Johnson. He went on to the faculty in 1963 and worked his way up 
the ranks becoming professor of internal medicine and pediatrics in 
1974. In 1984, he was recruited as professor and chair of pediatrics at 
Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, NE. Four years later 
he came to the University of Missouri-Columbia as a professor in the 
Department of Child Health and Internal Medicine and chief of pediatric 
rheumatology. He became emeritus professor in 1996 and continued to 
staff his arthritis clinics until this year. In 1991, Dr. Cassidy 
published with Ross Petty, M.D., the first ``Textbook of Pediatric 
Rheumatology,'' a textbook now in its fifth edition which remains the 
foremost authority in the field both nationally and internationally. He 
has received many awards, including ACR Master and the ACR 
Distinguished Clinical Scholar Award from the American College of 
Rheumatology.
  I am particularly proud of his work in Missouri. As a professor in 
the Department of Child Health and Internal Medicine at the University 
of Missouri-Columbia, Dr. Cassidy has inspired cutting-edge research 
and shared his limitless expertise in pediatric

[[Page S10451]]

rheumatology. Yet Dr. Cassidy has done more than just teach, write, and 
research. Through his efforts, the Missouri Department of Health 
established the Juvenile Arthritis Care Coordination Program in 1993 to 
help families obtain family-centered, community-based, coordinated care 
for children diagnosed with juvenile arthritis. His efforts did not 
stop there.
  Realizing that there were children in Southern Missouri who were too 
poor or too sick to travel to Columbia to receive treatment, Dr. 
Cassidy and his wife Nan would get in their car every other week and 
drive to a small clinic in Springfield, MO, and see as many as 25 young 
children suffering from juvenile arthritis. It didn't matter that they 
couldn't pay, Dr. Cassidy insisted on finding a way to get the children 
the treatments they needed. As one doctor said, ``Dr. Cassidy will go 
to any length to help a child.''
  Dr. Cassidy's support extended to his patients' families as well. 
``He is an incredibly compassionate physician,'' said one mother, ``who 
ensures that each family understands how juvenile arthritis affects 
their child and what parents can do to help their child lead normal and 
healthy lives.'' Dr. Cassidy was instrumental in building a community 
of support across Missouri and the United States for families living 
with juvenile arthritis. In 1980, it was through the encouragement and 
support of Dr. Cassidy that a mother of one of his patients and two 
other mothers from other States formed the American Juvenile Arthritis 
Organization, AJAO, which eventually became a council of the Arthritis 
Foundation.
  Dr. Cassidy was instrumental in organizing the first juvenile 
arthritis educational conference for parents, children, and health 
professionals held in 1983 which became an annual national conference. 
He felt education for families of children with arthritis was critical 
to their care and helped coordinate many Missouri regional conferences 
in St. Joseph, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia.
  Perhaps the best measure of Dr. Cassidy's legacy as a doctor comes 
from the praise and admiration of his patients. Twelve years ago, Dr. 
Cassidy began treating two young sisters who suffered debilitating pain 
from juvenile arthritis. Throughout the years he persistently 
encouraged them, to their chagrin, to wear braces and take their 
medicine. Recently, Dr. Cassidy received a letter from the girls. They 
are starting college as healthy, happy, young women--a circumstance 
virtually unthinkable when Dr. Cassidy began his career. They thanked 
him for supporting them and giving them the opportunity to live life as 
they never thought they could.
  Dr. Cassidy has led an extraordinary life in which he has practiced, 
researched, and guided aspiring doctors for almost 50 years. He has 
improved the understanding and awareness of pediatric rheumatology and 
changed the lives of thousands of children. On behalf of the children 
and families in Missouri and across the country, is my pleasure and 
honor to commemorate the distinguished career of Dr. Cassidy, a true 
pioneer in the field of pediatric rheumatology.

                          ____________________