[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22743]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. VINCENT ZECCHINO

 Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, it is with great honor that I 
recognize Dr. Vincent Zecchino and his wife, Julia, for the numerous 
contributions they have made to the field of medicine in Rhode Island 
and throughout the world. I am pleased to say that after a lifetime of 
achievement, Rhode Island Hospital dedicated their newest facility as 
the Julia and Vincent Zecchino Pavilion on October 18, 2002.
  After graduating from the University of Bologna Medical School in 
1936 and completing his internship at the Long Island College Hospital 
in 1938, Dr. Zecchino served his orthopedic and fracture residency at 
Rhode Island Hospital, which he completed in 1940. Subsequently, Dr. 
Zecchino continued his medical training as a fellow at Harvard Medical 
School and as a resident at Boston's Children Hospital and Mass General 
until entering the United States Army in 1942, Dr. Zecchino served the 
United States in the China Burma-India Theatre as Chief of Orthopedic 
Surgery until his discharge as Lieutenant Colonel in 1946.
  Upon completion of his military service, Dr. Zecchino returned to 
Rhode Island where he joined the orthopedic staff at Rhode Island 
Hospital and Miriam Hospital and the faculty of Brown Medical School. 
During his illustrious career, Dr. Zecchino also served as Chief of 
Orthopedics at the Veterans Hospital, worked and taught at Project Hope 
medical schools in Columbia, Tunisia and Sri Lanka, and was a member of 
the Tufts Medical School faculty.
  Dr. Zecchino has authored and co-authored numerous articles in 
medical journals and textbooks. He was critically important in the 
development of knee prosthesis and its instrumentation, and invented 
the double-edged bone cutting ``Z'' blade bone say. After such a long 
and distinguished career, it is especially noteworthy that Dr. Zecchino 
founded an orthopedic clinic for people in need after his retirement in 
1982.
  Throughout his medical career, Dr. Zecchino has benefited from the 
love, compassion and commitment of his wife, Julia, who was in a nurse-
training program when they met. Together, Dr. and Mrs. Zecchino have 
improved the lives of thousands of people and with the dedication of 
the Julia and Vincent Zecchino Pavilion; future generations will 
continue to benefit from the Zecchino's goodwill, dedication and 
tireless effort to improve the world around them.

                          ____________________