[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 102 (Thursday, June 15, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING DR. ALICE CHEN FOR HER ADVOCACY EFFORTS AND EXEMPLARY 
                     CONTRIBUTIONS TO PUBLIC HEALTH

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RAUL RUIZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 15, 2017

  Mr. RUIZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and recognize the 
extraordinary contributions Dr. Alice Chen has made to the health and 
well-being of all Americans as Executive Director of Doctors for 
America. Throughout her career, she has been an exemplary physician, 
taking on her medical vocation with a sense of duty and strength of 
character that is needed to accomplish such a noble calling.
  As a medical student at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell 
University, Dr. Chen volunteered for the American Red Cross and 
provided assistance to the director of the largest service center after 
September 11, 2001. Dr. Chen also shared her passion for medicine as 
the co-director of Big Buddies, a mentorship program that connected 
Cornell medical students with underserved youth.
  Dr. Chen earned her M.D. in 2005 and completed her internal medicine 
residency at UCLA in 2008. She then joined the David Geffen School of 
Medicine at UCLA as an Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor, and became 
the co-director of the Resident Elective in Malawi, Africa for the UCLA 
Department of Medicine and Program in Global Health.
  In 2009, she joined Doctors for America, a coalition of physicians 
and medical students who have joined together to advocate for the 
improvement of our health care system. Her dedication and advocacy 
efforts for health reform led her to become the Executive Director from 
2011 to 2017. Since then, Dr. Chen has strived to address gun violence 
prevention as a public health issue, advocate for affordable health 
coverage and prescription drugs, protect women's reproductive rights, 
and battle against racial disparities in access to health care. Today, 
I am elated to honor her stellar achievements, and I am honored to call 
her my friend. She is truly an inspiration.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to recognize and honor Dr. Alice Chen. On 
behalf of California's 36th Congressional District, it is with deepest 
respect that I commend her for a remarkable career dedicated to health 
advocacy. I wish her and her husband Vivek all my best in the years to 
come.

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