[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 164 (Wednesday, November 16, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S6408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. GREGORY FRITZ

 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, today Dr. Gregory Fritz will be 
honored by the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island with the Bell 
Award. This award recognizes a mental health champion whose work has 
helped promote the cause of mental health and improved of lives of 
people living with mental illness.
  For over three decades, Dr. Fritz's leadership and advocacy have 
strengthened our Rhode Island community. He arrived in Rhode Island in 
1985 to build a comprehensive pediatric psychiatry service at Hasbro 
Children's Hospital. Since, Dr. Fritz has become the academic director 
of Bradley Hospital, the director of Bradley Hasbro Children's Research 
Center, the director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 
at Rhode Island Hospital, and the director of the Department of 
Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of 
Brown University.
  Dr. Fritz is also a national leader in the mental health field, 
serving as the president of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent 
Psychiatry. He has used this platform to encourage integration of 
mental health services into primary care, a key strategy to improving 
children's access to mental health care, and ultimately, their health 
outcomes.
  It has been my privilege to see up close Dr. Fritz's dedication and 
drive to improve the lives of children and adults with mental illness. 
A decades-long effort I led with Senator Jack Reed to provide parity in 
Federal funding for teaching programs at children's psychiatric 
hospitals would not have been possible without Dr. Fritz. We hit many 
road bumps along the way, but Dr. Fritz did not stray from the course. 
He left no stone unturned--and no strategic partner uncalled--in 
advocating for this change. He noted, quite honestly, in an op-ed 
published in the Providence Journal, ``I am far from dispassionate 
about this issue.''
  Dr. Fritz has displayed passion and energy for raising awareness and 
bringing people together to identify solutions to a range of issues, 
including mental health parity, addiction and recovery, and workforce 
training. This is so important for the communities he serves--children 
and young adults with mental health and substance use disorders--who 
too often don't have a strong advocate. Thankfully, in Rhode Island, 
they have Dr. Fritz.
  Dr. Gregory Fritz has dedicated his career to improving the lives of 
children with mental illness, and many have benefited from his 
leadership. I offer him my congratulations on this well-deserved award, 
and I look forward to continuing to work alongside him.

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