[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 197 (Thursday, November 19, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1058-E1059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO HONOR THE LIFE OF THE HONORABLE PHILIP RANDOLPH LEE, M.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 19, 2020

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a highly 
distinguished American, Dr. Philip Randolph Lee, who was born in Palo 
Alto, California, and died in New York City on October 27, 2020, at the 
age of 96.
  Dr. Philip Lee was the son of Dorothy Womack Lee and Peter Van 
Arsdale Lee, a physician who founded what is today, the Palo Alto 
Medical Foundation. Dr. Lee, his three brothers and sister followed in 
their father's footsteps, all becoming highly regarded physicians. His 
nephew Peter Lee, serves as the distinguished and highly effective 
Executive Director of California's health benefit exchange, Covered 
California. Medicine, healthcare and public service run deep in the Lee 
family.
  Dr. Lee received his undergraduate and medical degrees at Stanford 
University. He earned fellowships at the Mayo Clinic and New York 
University; and a Masters of Science degree from the University of 
Minnesota. He was a professor at both Stanford and UCSF, and he served 
our country on active duty and as a member of the United States Naval 
Reserve from 1943 to 1951, including during the Inchon Invasion in 
Korea.

[[Page E1059]]

  Dr. Lee served our nation as Director of Health Services in the 
Office of Technical Cooperation and Research, part of the Department of 
State's Agency for International Development, from 1963 to 1965. He was 
a strong advocate for Medicare, and for this he was vilified by the AMA 
and others as a socialist.
  He served as Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs in 
the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1965 to 1969. 
During this time, he worked directly with President Johnson and helped 
implement the newly passed Medicare program, integrating many of the 
hospitals in our country as mandated by the Medicare legislation.
  From 1969 to 1972, Dr. Lee was UCSF's third Chancellor, and founded 
what became the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. He 
worked closely with UCSF's Black Caucus to end unequal pay and other 
discriminatory practices.
  Dr. Lee was Chairman of the Physician Payment Review Commission in 
Congress from 1986 to 1993 and then served in the Clinton 
administration as Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of 
Health and Human Services, from 1993 to 1997.
  Dr. Lee had a profound impact on our country and its healthcare 
system. He was a friend and beloved mentor to me and hundreds of 
others, and a wise and compassionate man. He had a sharp wit, a great 
laugh, and always a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. He will be missed 
by everyone who had the good fortune to know him, and he will be 
honored for generations to come for the enormous influence he had on 
the delivery of medicine in the United States.
  Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me 
in honoring the life and work of Philip Randolph Lee, and in extending 
our condolences to his wife, Dr. Roz Diane Lasker, and his entire 
family. He was as humble as he was extraordinary. He made us a better 
and stronger nation and his life and work will sustain us and inspire 
us for generations to come.

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