[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2061-2062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE LIFE OF DR. NORMAN SHUMWAY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 377, which was submitted 
earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 377) honoring the life of Dr. Norman 
     Shumway and expressing the condolences of the Senate on his 
     passing.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, S. Res. 377 is the resolution honoring the 
life of Dr. Norman Shumway and expressing condolences on behalf of this 
body.
  I wish to pay tribute to a medical pioneer, a man who inaugurated a 
new era of medicine, my mentor in surgery and friend. Sadly, Dr. 
Shumway passed away late last week at the age of 83. He left behind a 
legacy as an inspirational leader, a healer, a guiding spirit who made 
my own professional field of heart transplants a reality. When all 
those around him said it was impossible, said it was a pipe dream, said 
it couldn't be done, his vision and his determination and his 
unrelenting commitment and pioneer attitude has saved thousands and 
thousands of lives.
  I had the distinct honor of studying under the tutelage of Dr. 
Shumway at Stanford University Medical Center in the early 1980s. I 
witnessed his rare gifts. Those gifts included a blend of long-term 
thinking, a love of medicine and healing, and a true pioneering spirit 
that inspired and attracted like-minded individuals from across the 
country and, indeed, around the world.
  He was fond of remarking that his role as a surgeon was comparable to 
that of being the world's greatest first surgical assistant in the 
operating room. When you are treating a patient, when you are operating 
on a patient, the surgeon stands on one side of the table and the first 
assistant across the way on the other side. It is that image of Dr. 
Shumway, on the other side, instructing, teaching, cultivating that 
expertise in the young surgeon, that stands out most vividly in my 
mind, the constant cajoling and instructing in very gentle, humble 
ways, the certainty of that guiding hand which would reach over if 
there was a slightly wrong move or a hesitant move that was made. I 
think his comment about being the world's greatest first assistant 
reflects that humility but also that comfort level and that competence 
that, coupled with his pioneering spirit, has proved to be 
revolutionary in the field of medicine and surgery. Now his humble, yet 
visionary, work is reflected in surgical programs all over the world 
because he was that first assistant, as he instructed and taught and 
inspired. Those surgeons he trained are now literally populating 
academic and clinical programs all over this country and indeed 
throughout the world. He loved his role as healer, and he cherished the 
opportunity not only to operate and to innovative but to inspire and to 
plant seeds, all a part of his mode of inspirational teaching.
  I have worked with a lot of cardiac surgeons, heart surgeons, in 
programs around the world, including Boston, MA, over in England, out 
on the west coast, down in the South at Vanderbilt and, more than 
anybody I interacted with over the 20 years I have spent in medicine, 
Dr. Shumway was the one, was the single one, who had the broadest, as 
well as the deepest, influence because of his unparalleled commitment 
to teaching in an inspirational way that encouraged others to go out 
and teach and to spread the word and to spread the technique and to 
spread what he indeed pioneered: heart transplantation, lung 
transplantation, heart-lung transplantation.
  He was a brilliant man, a pioneering spirit. Yet he was always 
accessible. He was always there on rounds. He believed in the team 
approach, of relying on the technician running the heart-lung machine, 
relying on the nurses who, with him, made rounds each morning and each 
evening to see his patients.
  His teachings were filled with turns of phrases and catchy one-liners 
and, in my own mind, as I stand here and recall listening to him, he 
would say things such as: Never be afraid to double dribble. I think 
about it a lot because what he was saying was if that first stitch you 
are about ready to put in isn't perfect, put in another stitch; don't 
be so bold, don't be so confident, don't be so cocky, where if you have 
a question you don't make absolutely sure that something is perfect. 
Never be afraid to double dribble.
  Dr. Shumway looked for somebody who had the passion for healing, and 
he would encourage their active pursuits. It is almost as if he had a 
sixth sense, both for inspiration but also in recognizing in others an 
ability or a desire to be innovative, to create, to think outside of 
the box in order to benefit humanity.
  He considered it part of his mission to nurture and cultivate his 
trainees' ambition and their drive and their desire. It didn't matter 
what your age was. It didn't matter what schools you had gone to. It 
didn't matter whether you were a first-year resident, an intern, or a 
fifth-year resident; if you had a good idea, if you had a creative 
idea, he would nurture it and he would put an environment around you to 
allow that idea to grow, to prove itself, to go down in defeat. He 
would even set up a laboratory around an intern or a first-year 
resident who had a creative idea that he thought just may work.
  It was a very different mentality than most people in his field of 
surgery in medicine. The traditional medical establishment, as I 
mentioned earlier, thought heart transplantation could

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never be done. Yet that sort of ``a little bit out of the box'' 
thinking, that pioneering spirit, did inspire some of the great 
innovations in medicine in the 20th century: Heart transplants, which 
he is known for, with the first successful heart transplant in our 
country--it came at the era I was there--the combined heart-lung 
transplant, where essentially you remove all of the organs from the top 
of the chest down to the diaphragm, taking that heart-lung out to 
transplant and repair and to have it replaced to give life to 
individuals with otherwise fatal diseases; the early work with left 
ventricular assist devices; the invention of the cardiac biopsy, where 
the catheter is inserted through the neck and you can actually sample 
pieces of the heart with a technique that takes literally about 2 or 3 
minutes but allows you to determine whether a patient is rejecting that 
heart or has inflammation of that heart; the immunosuppressive 
protocols which made heart transplantation possible. These were all 
pioneering fields he jumped into, that he created, that he explored, 
and he did so with a disciplined approach, a scientific approach, an 
approach characterized by perseverance over a long period of time, in 
spite of a lot of people questioning and putting forth doubts as he 
went forward.
  In talking to a number of people who asked about this man and what 
his contributions have been, it has come to my attention, as I reflect 
upon it, that he has also encouraged people to go out and explore new 
fields. Some of the cardiac surgeons he trained--one went into public 
service for a period of time, but others went on to become lawyers, to 
become heads of the great universities of the country and, indeed of 
the world. Given the unique type of drive that inspired a person to 
study with Dr. Shumway, it is probably not all that unexpected because 
he did encourage people to figure out what their strengths were and how 
they could better humanity--whether it is the scientist in the 
laboratory, whether it is the clinical surgeon, whether it is the 
academic surgeon, whether it is the lawyer who ultimately best 
understood the delivery of health care and went off to participate in 
legal aspects of health care today.
  He also encouraged people to take risks, and to take risks in a very 
positive way, because if people did not work outside of their comfort 
zone he felt progress could never be made. But encouraging people to 
take those risks, he did so with science, with a strong foundation, 
with a good understanding of what limitations are, with a strong 
understanding of cost and risk and benefits. But that element of risk 
taking, calculated risk taking, is a legacy he has left many of us, and 
many of the people who have trained with him--thinking and saying and 
believing that is the only way progress in society takes place.
  Dr. Shumway was a legend in his field and his presence will be sorely 
missed. As I look back, I would never have had that blessing, and it is 
a blessing, to be able to transplant the human heart and I would have 
never transplanted a human heart if I had not had the opportunity to 
study under Dr. Norman Shumway. I would have never in my life been able 
to transplant the human lung, to give life to people who have an 
otherwise fatal disease, if I had not trained with and studied under 
Dr. Norman Shumway. I would have never put in any left ventricular 
assist devices for struggling, ailing hearts when people have had 
massive heart attacks. I would have never been able to do neonatal 
transplants on little infants. I mention those only because without 
that man and his vision, his philosophy of conceiving something and 
believing in it and doing it, it would have affected my life greatly. 
Indeed, in all likelihood I would not be on the floor of the Senate 
today if I had not had that exposure to Dr. Norman Shumway.
  Having had the honor of working with him, he was an inspirational 
leader. He was the guiding light who seemed to be able to pull it all 
together with his vision and with his determination and his dedication. 
He has affected the lives of thousands and indeed hundreds of thousands 
of people through his teaching and through his training around the 
world.
  He was my mentor, he was a great surgeon and a true friend, and 
someone I will miss dearly.
  I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the 
preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 377) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 377

       Whereas Norman Shumway was an inspirational leader and 
     medical pioneer;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway performed the first successful 
     heart transplant in the United States, and was considered the 
     father of heart transplantation in America;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway's seminal work with Dr Richard 
     Lower at Stanford Medical Center set in motion the longest 
     and most successful clinical cardiac transplant program in 
     the world;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway co-edited a definitive book on 
     thoracic organ transplantation along with his daughter who is 
     also a cardiac surgeon;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway continued to research the 
     medical complexities of heart transplants when many were 
     abandoning the procedure because of poor outcomes due to 
     rejection;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway trained hundreds of surgeons who 
     have gone on to lead academic and clinical cardiac surgical 
     programs around the world;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway served our country in the United 
     States Army from 1943 to 1946, and in the United States Air 
     Force from 1951 to 1953;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway earned his medical degree from 
     Vanderbilt University in 1949, and his doctorate from the 
     University of Minnesota in 1956;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway was awarded with numerous 
     honorary degrees by his peers, including the American Medical 
     Association's Scientific Achievement Award and the Lifetime 
     Achievement Award of the International Society for Heart and 
     Lung Transplantation;
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway is survived by his son, Michael, 
     and three daughters, Amy, Lisa and Sara, and his former wife, 
     Mary Lou; and
       Whereas Dr. Norman Shumway has left a legacy of life around 
     the world thanks to his tireless work of understanding and 
     perfecting heart transplantation: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) mourns the loss of Dr. Norman Shumway;
       (2) recognizes his contribution to medical science and 
     discovery;
       (3) expresses its sympathies to the family of Dr. Norman 
     Shumway; and
       (4) directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an 
     enrolled copy of this resolution to the family of Dr. Norman 
     Shumway.

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