[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 10, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     HONORING LYNNE MOFENSON, M.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 10, 2014

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Lynne Mofenson, 
M.D., who is retiring after 26 years of service to the federal 
government, and is currently Chief of the Maternal and Pediatric 
Infectious Disease Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National 
Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National 
Institutes of Health.
  Dr. Mofenson received the 2012 Federal Employee of the Year Award 
from the Partnership for Public Service. The award is one of nine 
Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals bestowed on public servants 
who make ``high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-
being of Americans.'' She was recognized for playing a pivotal role in 
preventing the AIDS epidemic among U.S. children through an effective 
means of preventing pregnant women from passing HIV on to their 
infants, and for dedicating her career to conducting research on HIV 
which has influenced and informed national HIV policy.
  In 1989, when Dr. Mofenson, a pediatric infectious disease physician, 
came to the NICHD, 25 to 35 percent of all infants born to mothers with 
HIV infection were themselves infected with HIV. The landmark research 
study published by Dr. Mofenson and her colleagues in 1994 showed that 
use of the anti-HIV drug AZT reduced the rate of mother-to-child HIV 
transmission rate to 8.3 percent. Dr. Mofenson's further collaborations 
led to other successful strategies for blocking mother-to-child 
transmission, and currently, there are fewer than 100 new mother-to-
child HIV cases in the U.S. each year--well under 1 percent. This is a 
true public health success story.
  Dr. Mofenson has continued to work with colleagues in this country 
and around the world to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission and to 
improve the treatments for children with HIV infection. She has played 
a critical role in the development and ongoing updates of evidence-
based guidelines for the United States Department of Health and Human 
Services, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and 
the World Health Organization that provide blueprints for the timely 
conversion of research findings into real changes in medical care for 
women, children, and families affected by HIV worldwide. Please join me 
in honoring the lifelong work of this extraordinary scientist.

                          ____________________