[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 7775]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             COMMENDATION OF DR. ANANDA PRASAD, M.C., PH.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HANSEN CLARKE

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 24, 2011

  Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. 
Ananda Prasad as a pioneer in the field of health research. Dr. Prasad 
is responsible for over 50 years of research involving zinc as an 
element essential to human survival.
  In 1963, Dr. Prasad was the first to describe cases of human zinc 
deficiency syndrome in young adults. While working at the University of 
Shiraz Medical School in Iran, Dr. Prasad met with a 21-year-old man 
who had the same physical characteristics as an 8-year-old boy. He 
diagnosed this patient as having extreme anemia and realized the 
condition was so prevalent in Iran it was considered an epidemic. Dr. 
Prasad continued to study patients with these symptoms, and discovered 
that a lack of zinc had an adverse affect on a human's height, weight, 
bone development, and sexual maturation.
  During the past 50 years, Dr. Prasad has been at the forefront of 
scientific discoveries regarding zinc and zinc supplements. His work 
has saved countless lives in African and Asian countries, including his 
home country of India. In certain areas of South Asia where the infant 
mortality rate was as high as 85 percent, Dr. Prasad successfully 
worked to lower the mortality rate to 15 percent.
  His lifelong work was recently awarded with the 2010 Mahidol Award in 
the Field of Public Health. This award, presented annually by the 
Prince Mahidol Award Foundation of Thailand, recognizes researchers and 
physicians for outstanding contributions in the field of public health 
for the sake and well-being of the peoples.
  I honor and thank Dr. Prasad for his groundbreaking and pioneering 
work.

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