[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 20 (Thursday, February 5, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S831-S832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RECOGNIZING ED HUNTER

 Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today, I rise to honor Ed Hunter, 
on the occasion of his retirement as the Director of the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention's Washington office.
  Ed has had a long career in public service. He has served the Nation 
for over 40 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
CDC. He began his career at the CDC's National Center for Health 
Statistics in 1975 while he was still a student at the University of 
Maryland.
  In this role, Ed helped establish a national health information 
infrastructure that is critical to making evidence-based public health 
policy. He, along with two of his colleagues, conceived and edited 
``Health Statistics: Shaping Policy and Practice to Improve the 
Population's Health,'' the first textbook to cover the development, 
use, and improvement of health statistics.

[[Page S832]]

  In his work on data policy, Ed created and led a cross agency 
committee to develop recommendations on the health data collection 
program of the entire Federal Government. His efforts have led to 
greater efficiency, increased emphasis on statistical rigor, and 
greater data usability. When you read a health statistic in a newspaper 
article, it is more trustworthy because of Ed Hunter.
  Most recently, as the Director of the CDC's Washington office, Ed has 
been essential in keeping Members of Congress and their staffs informed 
about urgent public health crises and communicating critical public 
health information. From ricin in the halls of Congress to Ebola on the 
other side of the world, Ed helped us make policy decisions based on 
sound science.
  Today, I want to recognize Ed for his 40 years at the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, for his dedication to public service, 
and for a lifetime of work that has truly made a difference in the 
health of our Nation and around the world. On behalf of the U.S. 
Congress, your fellow statesmen in Maryland, and a grateful nation, I 
want to thank Ed for all of the important work he has done and wish him 
the very best in his next phase of life.

                          ____________________