[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     IN HONOR OF BLAIR L. SADLER ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SUSAN A. DAVIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 11, 2006

  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that 
I rise today to congratulate Blair L. Sadler, who has been the 
President and Chief Executive Officer of Children's Hospital and Health 
Center of San Diego since 1980. Mr. Sadler celebrates his retirement 
after more than a quarter of a century of service in the field of 
pediatric healthcare.
  A native of New York City, Blair graduated from Amherst College with 
a bachelor's degree in economics and received his Juris Doctorate from 
the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He served as a law clerk 
with the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and as a medical-legal 
specialist for the National Institutes of Health. He was an Assistant 
Professor at Yale University for 3 years and served for 4 years as 
Assistant Vice President at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 
Princeton, New Jersey. Prior to his appointment at Children's Hospital, 
Blair served as Vice President and Director of the hospital and clinics 
at Scripps Clinical and Research Foundation for 3 years.
  Before coming to California, Blair had already established a national 
and international reputation in several fields, including organ 
transplantation, physician assistant programs, and emergency medical 
care and trauma services. While at the National Institutes of Health, 
with his physician twin brother, he was very involved in writing a 
model organ donation law that was adopted in all 50 states and 
published leading articles on transplantation and the law. While on the 
Yale University Medical School faculty, he co-authored two books The 
Physician's Assistant--Today and Tomorrow and Emergency Medical Care: 
The Neglected Public Service, which were widely utilized. At the Robert 
Wood Johnson Foundation, he designed and led their first national 
competitive grants program in regional emergency medical communication 
systems that became a model for the Foundation's work.
  His many accomplishments show a deep commitment to improving 
healthcare. He has skillfully integrated quantitative indicators along 
with qualitative elements to fashion a truly unique healing experience 
for the patients at Children's Hospitals.
  Under his leadership, Children's has become one of the leading 
pediatric hospitals in America and was the country's first children's 
hospital to receive the prestigious Ernest A. Codman Award in 
recognition for its pioneering work in quality of care. Children's is 
the major pediatric partner of the entire Sharp and Scripps health care 
systems and, in 2001, signed a historic agreement combining the UCSD 
pediatric programs with Children's.
  Blair's leadership has enabled Children's to grow and develop as one 
of the Nation's best pediatric hospitals and, during his tenure, 
Children's has provided care for more than a million children in the 
San Diego region since 1980. Children's has added many nationally 
recognized programs and services and has developed strong collaborative 
relationships with virtually every healthcare provider in San Diego. 
While Blair has been at the helm, the hospital has planned and 
constructed more than 200,000 square feet of facilities and he has 
championed a healing environment for Children's.
  Thanks to Blair's vision, Children's is not just a conglomeration of 
buildings; it represents a model healing environment for kids and their 
families. In 1999, Children's built the first healing garden in an 
American children's hospital and there are now four gardens on its 
campus. In 2001, in partnership with the nonprofit Society for the Arts 
in Healthcare, he created and personally funded the Blair L. Sadler 
Healing Arts Award program that annually recognizes professional and 
student artists who have made measurable contributions to improved 
health care through the arts.
  On behalf of the people of San Diego, I would like to extend my 
sincere appreciation for Blair's commitment and my best wishes for his 
retirement. I wish him and his family the very best in their new 
endeavors.

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