[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 66 (Thursday, May 10, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING DR. WILLIAM FOEGE, RECIPIENT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF 
                                FREEDOM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 10, 2012

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a great 
epidemiologist and immunization champion Dr. William Foege and to 
celebrate his receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the 
nation's highest civilian honor. Dr. Foege's commitment to public 
health throughout his career--particularly in the area of promoting 
child survival and immunization worldwide--is nothing less than 
extraordinary.
  In 1966, Dr. Foege served as a medical missionary in a remote part of 
Nigeria where he encountered the devastating disease of smallpox. He 
campaigned tirelessly for a more aggressive response to this terrible 
disease. In the absence of sufficient vaccine supply, Dr. Foege 
developed a strategy called ``surveillance and containment'' to combat 
the spread of smallpox. An innovative strategy, his focus on ``hot 
zones'' was remarkably successful and led to the global eradication of 
smallpox in 1979.
  Dr. Foege's work led him to become the Chief of the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Smallpox Eradication Program and 
in 1977 he was elevated to Director of the CDC where he remained an 
aggressive champion for childhood immunization and continued his 
leadership in the fight for the eradication of smallpox.
  Dr. Foege's accomplishments and awards are many and span his long 
career. After leaving the CDC, he formed the Task Force for Global 
Health (1984), which continues today as a critical nexus for the 
establishment of international collaborations to promote child wellness 
and survival. The impact that Dr. Foege and the Task Force has had on 
the world through childhood immunizations to prevent polio, measles, 
river blindness, and many other diseases has been nothing short of 
astonishing.
  In 1986, Dr. Foege joined the Carter Center in Georgia serving as 
their Executive Director until 1992. He is a professor emeritus at the 
Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta and an 
affiliate professor of epidemiology in my District at the University of 
Washington (UW), School of Public Health. In 1999, he became senior 
medical advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he remains 
an emeritus fellow. With this record of accomplishment and service, it 
is clear why UW chose to name their Bioengineering-Genome Sciences 
building after Dr. Foege.
  To this day, Dr. Foege continues to educate the world on domestic and 
international health policies through his writing and speaking 
engagements. His is a career defined by service and rooted in science. 
Dr. Foege's enthusiasm and talent for global health continues to 
generate and influence future generations of public health 
professionals. I am delighted that he has been awarded this honor.

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