[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 25, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RECOGNIZING THE CAREER OF DONALD E. CORNFORTH, M.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KEVIN McCARTHY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 25, 2018

  Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the career of 
Dr. Donald E. Cornforth, a radiologist and businessman serving the 
communities of Bakersfield and Delano in Kern County, California. One 
of the leading voices of our local medical community, Donald is 
retiring after committing nearly two decades of his life to bettering 
the quality of life for the people of Kern County.
  Though he would leave his biggest mark on the City of Bakersfield, 
Donald was born and raised in Media, Pennsylvania. Upon graduating high 
school, he began his journey west, attending Colorado State University 
at Fort Collins and graduating with his Bachelor's degree in 1964. He 
furthered his medical education in California, studying four years at 
the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and graduating as a Doctor 
of Medicine in 1968. Around this time, the United States was embroiled 
in the Vietnam War, and for five years Donald served his nation in the 
United States Army, attaining the rank of Major before being honorably 
discharged in 1972.
  In 1975, Donald was certified by the American Board of Radiology and 
began a lifelong career in medicine. Before moving to Bakersfield, 
Donald practiced radiology across Wisconsin and Colorado, and even 
taught at King Fahad Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. During this 
period, he accumulated a reputation for his medical talent and 
technical acumen, performing Colorado's first percutaneous trans-renal 
kidney stone extraction in 1982, and the first percutaneous trans-renal 
UPJ endopyeloplasty in 1983--a world first.
  For all his contributions to medicine, however, perhaps the biggest 
impact Donald made in his career came with his decision to move to 
Bakersfield in the early 1990's. Upon arriving in Bakersfield, he 
established himself as one of Kern County's premiere medical 
professionals, and since 1991, he has led a number of medical 
practices, most significantly Quest Imaging Medical Associates and 
Adventist Health Bakersfield. Through Quest Imaging, Donald brought 
cutting-edge technology to our community that was previously 
unavailable to Kern County residents, and the company remains a 
cornerstone of Bakersfield's medical community. Donald has been a 
fixture at San Joaquin Community Hospital, serving as the head of its 
Stroke Program and providing his talent as a radiologist for years. For 
over ten years, Donald has also given his time and talent to the 
community of Delano, frequently making the trek to Delano Regional 
Medical Center to provide radiological services.
  Donald retires leaving an indelible impression on the community he 
has called home for two decades. He will be remembered fondly in the 
Kern County community for his brilliant mind, his tireless work ethic, 
his philanthropy, and his pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit that 
pushed him from the suburbs of Philadelphia around the world and back 
again. I will miss discussing health policy with him, and I know many 
of his former patients will miss him for his kindness and attentive 
bedside manner.
  As he begins this new chapter of his life, on behalf of our 
community, Judy and I wish him, his wife, Edna, and his two children 
all best.

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