[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



TRIBUTE TO LEONARD AND MADLYN ABRAMSON FAMILY CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE

 Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition today to 
pay tribute to two distinguished Pennsylvanians, Leonard and Madlyn 
Abramson, upon the establishment of the Abramson Family Cancer Research 
Institute at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center. The $100 
million commitment from The Abramson Family Foundation--the largest 
single contribution for cancer research to a National Cancer Institute-
designated comprehensive cancer center--supports the unprecedented 
expansion of cancer research, education and patient care at Penn's 
Cancer Center.
  The Abramson Family Foundation is a trust fund directed by Leonard 
and Madlyn Abramson. Mr. Abramson is the founder and former chairman 
and CEO of U.S. Healthcare, Inc. Best known for his accurate 
predictions in the changing world of health care over the past two 
decades, Mr. Abramson believed in HMOs as the best health care 
alternative in the early 1970s. He went on to build one of the nation's 
largest and most successful managed care organizations before selling 
it to Aetna in 1996. Madlyn Abramson is a trustee of the University of 
Pennsylvania, as well as a member of the Health System's Board of 
Trustees and the Graduate School of Education's Board of Overseers.
  The Abramsons have been supporters of cancer research, as well as 
numerous other causes, for more than a decade. The family's long and 
generous history with the University of Pennsylvania Health System 
includes gifts to endow two professorships and a multi-year grant 
through the former U.S.Healthcare to the Cancer Center's Bone Marrow 
Transplant Program.
  The Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute has created a 
revolutionary framework for facilitating innovation in cancer research, 
enabling the Penn Cancer Center to bring together the best scientists, 
physicians, and staff and to develop new approaches in an effort to 
make current treatments for cancer obsolete. John H. Glick, M.D., the 
Leonard and Madlyn Abramson Professor of Clinical Oncology and Director 
of Penn's Cancer Center for more than a decade, serves as Director and 
President of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute.
  The gift of The Abramson Family Foundation will significantly 
increase our opportunities to break new ground in the war on cancer--
especially in the areas of cancer genetics and molecular diagnosis, 
from which future research and patient care advances will occur.
  The Institute supports leading-edge cancer research through the 
recruitment of outstanding scientists and physicians from around the 
world and the design of innovative patient care paradigms. The Abramson 
pledge propels the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center--already 
one of the nation's top cancer centers--to the next level of research 
and patient-focused care.

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