[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING CAPTAIN RON SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Captain Ron 
Smith, United States Navy, upon his retirement. His remarkable Navy 
medical career will end on October 8, 2010 but the fine innovations and 
the legacy of his work in the areas of psychiatry and addiction 
treatment will continue.
  In short, his contributions to the field of political psychology, 
specifically Psychoanalysis and Alcoholism, are unmatched.
  Upon graduation from Amarillo High School, Dr. Smith enlisted in the 
United States Marine Corps. He was soon after appointed to the United 
States Naval Academy, graduating with the class of 1966. He attended 
the University of Texas Medical School and completed an Internal 
Medicine residency at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine and Naval 
Hospital San Diego. Dr. Smith was the first physician trained in 
critical care medicine by the U.S. Navy, completing his fellowship at 
the University of Southern California Center for the Critically Ill in 
Los Angeles in 1976. He soon became one of the first physicians 
involved in Navy Alcohol treatment and with Captain Joe Pursch was 
instrumental in the founding of the Betty Ford Center.
  He left the Navy in 1978 and as a civilian Dr. Smith founded the 
emergency medicine residency program at Loma Linda University Medical 
School. During this time, he and his brother Richard Smith worked 
together to start the Winners Foundation which offered free substance 
abuse treatment at Santa Anita and other race tracks in the 
Thoroughbred Racing industry throughout the world. His interest in 
addiction and recovery led to an interest in the psychological growth 
during the middle and mature years of life, which led him to complete 
his psychiatry training at Loma Linda, where he also taught emergency 
and critical care medicine.
  He returned to active duty in 1992 as a psychoanalyst and contributed 
as medical consultant for the Honorable Jim Ramstad for the Ramstad-
Wellstone bill which was eventually passed in 2008 as the Parity Act. I 
was fortunate to have the opportunity to accompany Dr. Smith in his 
capacity as an Emergency Physician on one of Senator Arlen Specter's 
world-wide congressional delegations. Senator Specter enabled Dr. Smith 
to meet many world leaders and contribute significantly as a political 
psychologist.
  Dr. Ronald Smith is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Emergency 
Medicine, Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. He completed his 
psychoanalytic training at the Southern California Psychoanalytic 
Institute in Beverly Hills, California and has a Doctorate in 
Philosophy of Psychoanalysis. Since 2002, lie has been annually 
recognized by the Consumer's Research Council as one of America's Top 
Psychiatrists in Psychoanalysis and Alcoholism.
  Ron is married to Dr. Anita Alexandra Gadhia Smith, an accomplished 
author and practicing psychologist in Washington, D.C. They have three 
children and six grandchildren.
  I wish Dr. Smith all the best as he continues his work in private 
practice and in his lobbying efforts for the treatment of our homeless 
and mentally ill in hospitals instead of jails, and for the 
decriminalization of addiction. He will continue to carry my own 
admiration, and that of all who have had the privilege to serve with 
him.

                          ____________________