[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2093-E2094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   AWARDING A CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL TO MICHAEL ELLIS DeBAKEY, M.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. AL GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 2, 2007

  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the National Association for 
Biomedical Research, NABR and Foundation for Biomedical Research, FBR, 
are the Nation's oldest and largest organizations dedicated to 
improving human and veterinary health by promoting public understanding 
and support for humane and responsible animal research. I would like to 
submit their following comments for the record on the passing of 
legislation to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Michael E. 
DeBakey:
  The National Association for Biomedical Research, NABR and Foundation 
for Biomedical Research, FBR, salute you and your colleagues in the 
House of Representatives for recognizing Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey and 
his unparalleled contributions to cardiovascular medicine. Dr. 
DeBakey's work has improved the health of millions of American citizens 
and people around the world. His extraordinary talents as a surgeon, 
inventor, educator and medical statesman make him a true medical 
legend.
  Dr. DeBakey richly deserves his reputation as one of this country's 
most innovative and pioneering physicians and the most famous 
cardiovascular surgeon in the world. A former president of the 
International Cardiology Foundation referred to him as ``. . . the 
genius . . . the father of open heart surgery.'' Upon receiving the 
prestigious Lasker Award, Dr. DeBakey was cited for: ``His pioneer 
contributions in cardiovascular surgery . . . His laboratory 
investigations, translated with extraordinary courage and unprecedented 
skill to the patient, have resulted in the correction and cure of 
previously incurable cardiovascular disease, replacing what would have 
been lingering chronic disease and disability, or sudden death, by 
vigorous, happy, and productive life.''
  Among his many inventions and innovations was the Dacron tube. Using 
his wife's sewing machine and fabric purchased from a local store in 
Houston, Dr. DeBakey created the first artificial artery. These Dacron 
tubes yielded remarkable advancements in vascular surgery. Dr. DeBakey 
continued to perfect new vascular surgical techniques, which spawned 
the modern era of the surgical treatment for stroke. His innovative 
work didn't end there, as he continued to develop new pioneering 
surgical techniques for the treatment of aneurysms, again leading to 
new, effective treatments and the saving of thousands of lives.

  In 1964, Dr. DeBakey triggered the most explosive era in modern 
cardiac surgery when he performed the first successful coronary bypass. 
Two years later, he made medical history again by becoming the first 
person to successfully use a partial artificial heart (left ventricular 
bypass pump) to help patients who could not be weaned from a heart-lung 
machine following open-heart surgery. Later in that decade, Dr. DeBakey 
again became part of medical history, supervising the first successful 
multi-organ transplant, in which a heart, both kidneys, and lung were 
transplanted from a single donor to 4 separate recipients. Also during 
that decade, Dr. DeBakey pioneered the field of telemedicine with the 
first demonstration of open-heart surgery to be transmitted overseas by 
satellite. Medical staff in Geneva, Switzerland were able to watch 
aortic valve replacement surgery being performed at The Methodist 
Hospital in Houston.
  In 1942, still early in his career, Dr. DeBakey had achieved a 
national reputation as an authority on vascular disease. Rather than 
returning to his university employer and working to enhance his career, 
Dr. DeBakey felt morally bound to serve his country during World War 
II. He volunteered for military service, joining the Surgeon General's 
staff and rising to the rank of colonel and Chief of the Surgical 
Consultants Division. His work, inspecting field hospitals and actively 
caring for the wounded, led to his proposal for the proper staged 
management of war wounds. These recommendations made possible the 
development of mobile army surgical hospitals, or MASH units. Dr. 
DeBakey's experience during the war also caused him to recommend the 
creation of specialized medical centers in different areas of the U.S. 
to treat wounded military personnel returning from war. That 
recommendation evolved into the establishment of the Veterans Affairs 
Medical Center, VAMC, System.
  As a scholar and man of letters, Dr. DeBakey would later initiate the 
concept and spearhead the movement to establish a national facility for 
historical medical papers and artifacts. His idea and leadership 
brought about the establishment of the National Library of Medicine in 
1959, housed at the National Institutes of Health.
  Dr. DeBakey has also made enormous contributions to the city of 
Houston and what is now known as the Baylor College of Medicine. In 
1948, Baylor University College of Medicine was a small, virtually 
unknown institution recently moved from Dallas to be the cornerstone of 
the new Texas Medical Center. At the time, it was the only medical 
school in Houston and lacked most of the facilities and programs 
essential to a viable medical and teaching institution. Dr. DeBakey 
reluctantly accepted a faculty position, but once on board, he worked 
quickly to set the standard that would allow the College to become one 
of the most respected health science centers in the Nation and the 
world. In 1969, after working for 2 decades to build the institution 
into a world-

[[Page E2094]]

class health science center, Dr. DeBakey was elected the first 
President of the newly named Baylor College of Medicine. Under his 
leadership, the College would experience an unprecedented era of growth 
and renowned reputation.
  In recognition of his life-saving achievements, Dr. DeBakey has been 
honored numerous times with hundreds of awards, including the Legion of 
Merit from the United States Army, the Presidential Medal of Freedom 
with Distinction, the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award, and the 
Presidential National Medal of Science. He has been honored by kings 
and queens, and virtually every U.S. President since Harry Truman has 
sought the wisdom of ``the maestro.''

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