[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 125 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1953]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CONGRATULATING JAMES T. CASSIDY, MD, ON HIS MEDICAL CAREER AND 
                          OUTSTANDING SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. KENNY C. HULSHOF

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Mr. HULSHOF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the career of a 
great Missourian, a physician who has practiced for years in my home 
town of Columbia, MO. He literally wrote the book on pediatric 
rheumatology, and has provided outstanding health care over a 
distinguished medical career. He is being honored at the Cassidy 
Symposium at the University of Missouri School of Medicine on October 
7, 2006.
  Dr. Cassidy is an outstanding pediatric rheumatologist, well-known 
nationally and internationally. He has been a leader in the field of 
rheumatology for over 40 years and a founding member of many of the 
subspecialty organizations.
  Dr. Cassidy was born in 1920 in Oil City, PA, and received both his 
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 Intellectual Medicine and a rheumatology fellowship in 
the Rackham Arthritis Research Unit under the mentorship of Drs. 
Roseman and Johnson. He went on to the faculty in 1963 and worked his 
way up the ranks, becoming Professor of Intellectual 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, and 
then 4 years later as professor in the Department of Child Health and 
Internal Medicine and Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology at the University 
of Missouri-Columbia. He became emeritus in 1996 and continued to staff 
his arthritis clinics until this year.
  He is a Diplomate of both the American Board of Internal Medicine and 
the American Board of Pediatrics and their respective rheumatology sub-
boards.
  He has received many honors and awards including Phi Beta Kappa, 
Alpha Omega Alpha, Excellence in Education Award from the University of 
Missouri SOM, National Service Citation from the Arthritis Foundation, 
and Master of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). He is a 
member of a number of prestigious organizations including the American 
Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American 
College of Rheumatology, the British Society of Rheumatology, the 
American Pediatric Society and the Society of Pediatric Research.
  He has served the academic and the rheumatology community admirably 
with service on numerous committees including as a Founding Member of 
the Council on Pediatric Rheumatology of the ACR and Chair of the 
Academic Pediatric Rheumatology Blue Ribbon Committee, the BOD of the 
Arthritis Foundation and the first Executive Committee of the American 
Juvenile Arthritis Organization, and Chair of the Executive Committee 
for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  Through Dr. Cassidy's 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.
  Along with Drs. Brewer and Kredich, he was instrumental in the 
development of the Subboard of Pediatric Rheumatology and the 
acceptance of educational training programs in Pediatric Rheumatology 
by the American Council of Graduate Medical Education.
  He has published over 150 manuscripts and book chapters and is the 
founding author of the ``Textbook of Pediatric Rheumatology'' now in 
its fifth Edition and the leading textbook in the field. He is a 
frequent invited speaker, having addressed audiences all over the 
world.
  In summary, he is the consummate academician and a founding member of 
pediatric rheumatology as a recognized subspecialty. He is a great 
American, he has treated my constituents and their children with 
dedication and sympathy, and I am grateful they have brought his 
distinguished career to my attention. I congratulate Dr. Cassidy on his 
many successes, and wish him well in his future endeavors.

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