[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1926]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING AXEL CARL HANSEN, M.D., DHL

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN

                         of the virgin islands

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 15, 2006

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, to be young, gifted, and Black during 
the first quarter of the 20th century presented unique and overwhelming 
challenges that not many African Americans could transcend. Among those 
who did was the distinguished physician, Dr. Axel Carl Hansen.
  He has been a recognized researcher, scholar and expert in the field 
of ophthalmology for over 50 years. The combination of his unique 
commitment to human egalitarianism and equal educational opportunities 
for African Americans interested in ophthalmology has been a perennial 
beacon of light to those entering and those within the profession.
  Dr. Hansen was born in my district, on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin 
Islands, on March 4, 1919, and received his elementary education in the 
private schools of the island. His college-preparatory training was 
obtained at the Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas, from where 
he graduated in June 1937. His leadership and scholastic skill were 
evident early in life. In his senior year in high school, he was 
president of his class, editor of the school's weekly newspaper, The 
Reflector, and editor of his class yearbook, The Last Carib. A member 
of the Quill and Scroll Journalist Society, he received the national 
society's ``honorable mention'' for a news article he wrote and 
published in The Reflector and won first prize from the Virgin Islands 
Daily News for an essay, ``Nature's Masterpiece'', which appeared in 
the initial issue of The Virgin Islands Magazine. He was one of two 
members of his graduating class to receive the honor society's Forum 
Award for outstanding accomplishments.
  In the fall of 1937, Axel Hansen left the Virgin Islands to attend 
Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated with a 
baccalaureate degree. He received his M.D. degree from Meharry Medical 
College in Nashville in March 1944 and pursued internship and 1 year 
residency at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis in ophthalmology 
and otolaryngology.
  Dr. Hansen, following that post-graduate training, was recruited by 
Dr. Charles Drew, the famous African American pioneer of blood storage, 
to return to St. Croix, Virgin Islands and assist in the delivery of 
medical care. As a municipal physician and general practitioner there, 
one of his responsibilities was the medical care of patients with 
leprosy. He modernized the treatment of that disease in the Virgin 
Islands by substituting the new sulfone drugs for the long used, but 
less efective, chaulmoogra oil.
  Returning to the United States in 1946 to further his training in 
diseases and surgery of the eyes, ears, nose, and throat, Dr. Hansen 
spent 2 years at Meharry Medical College's George W. Hubbard Hospital. 
The year 1948-1949 was devoted to advanced training in the specialty at 
Provident Hospital in Chicago and the University of Chicago. Upon 
completion of his training he returned to Meharry Medical College as a 
full time instructor and he began a private practice.
  Later, during a 3-year sojourn in the Virgin Islands, he served a 
year as president of the medical staff at the Knud-Hansen Memorial 
Hospital, and was the founder and first secretary of the U.S. Virgin 
Islands Medical Society.
  In 1960, Dr. Hansen was appointed Associate Professor of 
Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology at Meharry Medical College and rose to 
the rank of Professor and head of the Department of Ophthalmology. He 
also served as medical director of the College's Hubbard Hospital for 6 
years.
  In 1968, he reported the first two cases of Norrie's Disease--a rare 
eye disease--in the United States, and has published several medical 
articles on that and other subjects.
  His creativity has not been limited to medicine. Dr. Hansen also 
published a self-illustrated book of original poems, and a book, From 
These Shores, which consists of biographical profiles of influential 
individuals from the Danish West Indies.
  The physician became the first African-American ophthalmologist to be 
certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology in the State of 
Tennessee. He is a Diplomate of that Board, a Fellow of the American 
Academy of Ophthalmology, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons 
and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. He is also a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society 
and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. Among his many citations are the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters and the Distinguished 
Alumnus Award from Fisk University.
  In 1987, he was the commencement speaker at his alma mater, Charlotte 
Amalie High School, from which he had graduated 50 years earlier.
  Dr. Hansen retired from Meharry in 1985 as a Distinguished Service 
Professor Emeritus. In 1996, the American Academy of Ophthalmology 
awarded him the Academy's Outstanding Humanitarian Award, the second 
African American to receive that honor.
  Today, Dr. Hansen is retired and living in Nashville, Tennessee.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that the Members of the U.S. House of 
Representatives join me in honoring this esteemed physician, educator, 
author and humanitarian.

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