[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 114]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 IN MEMORY OF JOHN ROBERT MURREN, M.D.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to remember Dr. John Robert 
Murren, a renowned oncologist, cancer researcher, and a beloved 
husband, father and son.
  I first met Dr. Murren 3\1/2\ years ago. He visited me in my Capitol 
office with his brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Heather Murren. In 
this meeting, they shared with me their vision for a new world-class 
cancer research facility in Nevada.
  Like so many Americans, the Murrens had been touched by cancer. They 
had witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by cancer and were 
motivated to do something to lessen the toll of this horrible illness. 
As such, the Murrens resolved to combine Heather and Jim's business 
skills and extensive network with John's medical expertise to create a 
cutting-edge comprehensive cancer institute in Nevada. In 2002, they 
founded the Nevada Cancer Institute and built a 142,000 square foot 
facility in Las Vegas that is dedicated to researching, preventing, 
detecting, and curing cancer. Dr. John Murren served on the institute's 
board of directors as well as an adjunct faculty member. Dr. Murren's 
death will inspire those he left behind to make the Nevada Cancer 
Institute even better. John would want this.
  Dr. John Murren's vision for the Nevada Cancer Institute was based on 
an impressive medical foundation. He earned his B.A. in chemistry and 
history from Duke University cum laude followed by his M.D. in 1984 
from the Loyola-Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his 
internship and residency in Internal Medicine at St. Vincent's Hospital 
in New York where he was chief resident. In 1988, Dr. Murren accepted a 
postdoctoral fellowship in medical oncology at the Yale-New Haven 
Hospital where he was an attending physician as well as an associate 
professor of medicine. Since 1992, he had been awarded grant funding to 
study cancer drug therapies yielding invaluable contributions to the 
understanding of the effectiveness of cancer drug therapies, 
particularly chemotherapy.
  Dr. Murren was the chief of the Yale Medical Oncology Outpatient 
Clinic and director of the Lung Cancer Unit at the Yale Cancer Center 
in New Haven, Connecticut. At Yale, Dr. Murren had the largest clinical 
practice at the Cancer Center and treated thousands of patients and 
their families over a distinguished career. His clinical research 
widely published. He sat on several peer-review boards and was sought 
out worldwide for his expertise. He was also a member of the board of 
trustees of the Frisbee Foundation.
  In addition to his clinical, educational, and research endeavors, Dr. 
Murren served on the Clinical Research Subcommittee of the American 
Association of Cancer Research and the American College of Surgeons 
Cancer Committee. He also served as cochair of Novel Therapeutics for 
the American Association of Cancer Research National Meeting in 2001. 
He was a member of the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong and was an 
active lecturer and writer.
  The loss of Dr. Murren will be felt beyond medical and scientific 
circles. Dr Murren is survived by Nancy, his wife; John, his son; Jean 
Perkins Murren, his mother; Jim and Michael, his brothers and Kathie, 
his sister as well as sisters-in-law: Heather Hay Murren and Mary Kay 
Murren and brothers-in-law George Koether as well as Jeff and Bill 
Hughes and wives, family and mother-in-law, Doris Hughes, as well as 
several nieces and nephews.
  Dr. Murren will be missed by his community in Fairfield, CT, where he 
led an active life. He was a parishioner of St. Thomas Roman Catholic 
church there, and he enjoyed reading, skiing, tennis, and watching his 
son, John, play ice hockey.
  No one is immune to cancer not even those individuals who, like Dr. 
Murren, dedicate their life's work to cancer research and treating 
individuals suffering from cancer. If we in Congress want to honor the 
life of Dr. Murren and the 1 million Americans who will be diagnosed 
with cancer this year, then we must invest more Federal money into 
cancer research. Otherwise, we will continue to lose too many of our 
family members and friends to this devastating illness.
  In closing, I extend to his family, friends, and associates, my 
sympathy on the passing of a good American, Dr. John Murren. It is my 
wish that his legacy will be a country that defeats the dreaded disease 
we call cancer.

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