[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 177 (Thursday, November 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S10732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                      TRIBUTE TO DR. XIAOMING TIAN

 Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to the 
outstanding achievements of Dr. Xiaoming Tian. For many years, Dr. Tian 
has been recognized as a leading practitioner of Chinese medicine, 
acupuncture and alternative medicine in the United States. I am very 
pleased that Dr. Tian's recognition was extended worldwide when he 
received the prestigious World Federation of Chinese Medicine 
Societies, WFCMS, world award for distinguished physician earlier this 
year.
  This award is the highest honor the WFCMS can bestow, and it is only 
presented to a handful of physicians each year. This year, only 10 
clinical physicians worldwide were honored and Dr. Tian received the 
distinction of the only recipient in the United States.
  The World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies was founded in 
2003 and is headquartered in Beijing. Currently, the federation is 
chaired by Dr. She Jing, Vice-Minister of Health and Director of the 
State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the People's 
Republic of China. The WFCMS includes 174 Chinese medical associations 
from 55 countries and is the highest global organization of Chinese 
medicine.
  In honoring Dr. Tian, the WFCMS reports, ``Dr. Xiaoming Tian's great 
contributions include many different areas such as clinical medicine, 
research, new Chinese herbal medicine development, education and health 
care policy. Dr. Tian is highly respected by medical professionals and 
patients in the United States.''
  As the WFCMS noted, in May of 1991 Dr. Tian established the first 
Chinese acupuncture clinic at the National Institute of Health, NIH, 
Clinical Center. This clinic represented the first time that the NIH 
had formally recognized acupuncture as a routine treatment and had 
developed a procedure code for it. Dr. Tian became the first clinical 
consultant on acupuncture within NIH's medical staff.
  In addition to his work at NIH, Dr. Tian has taken part in a variety 
of different research endeavors including an intramural study on the 
efforts of using acupuncture to treat cancer patients from 1992-1993 
and an appointment by President Clinton as one of 20 members of the 
White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy 
set up to report on policy changes that would ensure the potential 
benefits of complementary and alternative medicine from 2000-2002.
  More recently, as a co-investigator, Dr. Tian participated in a 
Georgetown University Medical Center study of using acupuncture to 
treat fibromyalgia. The study, conducted under the auspices of an NIH 
grant, was a pioneer study in rheumatism research. Dr. Tian has also 
served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Internal Medicine 
and Rheumatology at Georgetown University Medical School. He has been 
the Director of the Wildwood Acupuncture Center and Academy of 
Acupuncture and Clinical Medicine since 1986 and, with Professor 
Shangaing Chen, Dr. Tian established an osteoporosis and osteoarthritis 
research center at Beijing Medical University in China. Finally, in 
2006, Dr. Tian was appointed to a four-year term on the Cancer 
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Editorial Board of the National 
Cancer Institute's Physician Data Query, PDQ, system, the comprehensive 
cancer database.
  It is fitting that we pay tribute to the achievements of Dr. Xioming 
Tian, who has done so much to help patients with his groundbreaking 
research and treatment in the emerging field of complementary and 
alternative medicine. I congratulate Dr. Tian on his distinguished 
award and ask that he continue his fine work.

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