[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 10]
[SENA]
[Page 14074]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DR. DONALD FREDERICKSON

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I welcome this opportunity to pay 
tribute to the memory of one of the best medical leaders and 
researchers of our time. One year ago, Dr. Donald Frederickson passed 
away at his home in Bethesda. Of his many achievements, he is best 
known to the Nation as Director of the National Institutes of Health 
but his contributions to medicine, especially in the field of 
cardiology, began much earlier.
  Dr. Frederickson first joined the NIH in 1953, and he held several 
important research and administrative positions in the National Heart 
Institute, now known as the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, 
before becoming Director of NIH. At the National Heart Institute, he 
led the research team that discovered the connection between 
cholesterol and heart disease. He founded the National Heart 
Institute's Section on Molecular Disease, and discovered two new 
diseases. As Director, one of Dr. Frederickson's most notable 
achievements was in the field of DNA research. He skillfully mediated 
the early days of the dispute that still concerns us today--the dispute 
between those concerned with the social and ethical implications of DNA 
research and those who could see the potentially great benefits of 
these discoveries. As a result of mediation, NIH was able to develop 
guidelines for DNA research that met the needs of both groups.
  After leaving the NIH in 1981, Dr. Frederickson served on numerous 
boards and panels, in addition to serving as President of the Institute 
of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and Scholar-in-
Residence at the National Library of Medicine.
  Throughout his career, Dr. Frederickson was highly respected in both 
medicine and government. The current NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, 
called him ``a true statesman of science'' and ``a towering influence 
in the scientific community.''
  Donald Frederickson's brilliant contributions to modern medicine will 
live forever. He was a giant of medical research with an extraordinary 
ability to see a better and brighter future, and lay the groundwork to 
make it happen, and we will never forget him.

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