[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16738-16740]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DR. SANDY GREENBERG

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I rise today to join with my colleague, 
Senator Paul, to discuss the life and work of an exceptional American, 
Dr. Sandy Greenberg, who is here with us today, along with his wife Sue 
and his sister Brenda.
  Sandy, in my view, is an honorary Delawarean because he spends a 
month every year at one of our most beautiful beaches, Rehoboth Beach. 
But he is much more than that. A successful businessman and 
philanthropist, Sandy has a wide variety of interests and life 
experiences. He has founded and run software and technology companies, 
he is a pioneer in the use of technology in medicine, and helped bring 
telemedicine to rural health care facilities as chairman of the Rural 
Health Care Corporation.
  He was appointed by President Clinton to the Board of the National 
Science Foundation. As a young man he took a break from his studies at 
Columbia, where he roomed with Art Garfunkel--a well-known musician--to 
work as a fellow in Lyndon Johnson's office.
  All of this on its own merits would make for a life well-lived and a 
substantive, meaningful contribution to our country. But there is one 
thing I have not yet mentioned. At the young age of 19, Sandy went 
blind. He lost his sight, and with that all likely hope of the 
successful completion of his college career or a successful career in 
life. He was told by the social workers who met with him after glaucoma 
stole his sight from him that his future would likely consist of 
assembling screwdriver kits in a sheltered workshop in his hometown in 
upstate New York.
  But because of the kindness and the intervention of his roommates--
Art Garfunkel and Jerry Spire--and others who volunteered--Marc 
Mukasey--who dedicated countless hours reading to him, he was able to 
finish his class work, to be successful in completing his studies at 
Columbia, and then to go on to Harvard Law School and to Oxford, and 
then to go further and further.
  He has lived his entire adult life and achieved a career most of us 
can only dream of while also plunged in darkness. His exceptional 
courage and his perseverance don't end there. Today he wants to serve 
others and catalyze a transformative shift in the health of our Nation 
by ending blindness by the end of this decade.
  Is this outrageous? Is this audacious? Maybe. But that is what 
experts said when President Kennedy stood before this Congress--in the 
same year, 1961, that Sandy lost his sight--and challenged our Nation 
to put a man on the Moon by the end of that decade. The best and 
brightest minds, the top scientists and researchers of Kennedy's 
generation rose to that challenge and achieved his impossible dream. 
Now, for this generation, Sandy and his wife Sue have once again raised 
our sights and challenged the best scientific and medical researchers 
in the world to rise to an enormous challenge--a challenge that has 
been with us from the beginning of mankind.
  In the Bible itself we hear of blindness, of people who could not see 
with their eyes but only their hearts. For millennia, humanity has 
struggled to understand and overcome blindness. Yet today we have the 
scientific tools necessary to reach for a cure--to restore the physical 
sight so many of us take for granted to those who otherwise live in 
darkness; to bring to life the 39 million people in this world who live 
without sight, many in the world's poorest countries, at a time when 
experts already believe 80 percent of blindness can be prevented or 
cured.
  We know we can do it. Just think of what an awe-inspiring 
accomplishment this would be, what a triumph of the human mind, of 
individual initiative, of collaborative efforts of the scientific 
method, of modern technology, and of our investment in the belief that 
America can and should be a world leader in curing the diseases that 
have ailed humanity for generations.
  Mr. President, a majority of all research scientists in human history 
are alive today. That remarkable fact alone carries with it great 
potential. That is why Sandy and his wife Sue created the Prize to End 
Blindness by 2020, to take advantage of this incredible historic 
opportunity to bring together scientists and researchers and end 
blindness by the end of this decade. To inspire them, the Greenbergs 
have provided a prize of more than $2 million in gold. Why gold? Well, 
it is a reminder of the color of the beautiful shimmering sunsets Sandy 
and Susan enjoyed together in the waning days of Sandy's sightedness, 
and it is a reminder of the beauty of the challenge of a prize to 
restore sight to millions who live in blindness.
  Mr. President, I am no expert on the health or science of the eye, 
but we are blessed to have in this Senate two Members who are. We had 
some supportive comments that will be given by Senator Boozman of 
Arkansas, but I am particularly glad and honored to be joined today by 
Senator Paul, by Dr. Paul, who is not only a tireless advocate for the 
people of Kentucky, but who, by professional training and background, 
is an ophthalmologist.

[[Page 16739]]

  I yield the floor at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. PAUL. I thank Senator Coons for inviting me, both figuratively 
and literally, across the aisle to join him on this side--I am glad to 
be here today--and for introducing me to this prize that Sandy 
Greenberg has brought forward to end blindness.
  I am an eye surgeon. I have also done research on glaucoma and have 
been a longtime member of Lions Club International, whose primary 
research and goal is the prevention of blindness.
  One of the heroes to the Lions' eye movement and to our work 
worldwide on blindness has been Helen Keller who, at the age of 19 
months, lost not only her vision but her hearing. In 1925, she came to 
the Lions Club International with this mandate--and this is part of her 
speech from that day:

       You have heard how through a little word dropped from the 
     fingers of another, a ray of light from another soul touched 
     the darkness of my mind and I found myself, found the world, 
     found God. It is because my teacher learned about me and 
     broke through the dark, silent imprisonment which held me 
     that I am able to work for myself and for others. It is the 
     caring we want more than the money. The gift without the 
     sympathy and interest of the giver is empty. If you care, if 
     we can make the people of this great country care, the blind 
     will indeed triumph over blindness.
       The opportunity I bring to you, Lions, is this: To foster 
     and sponsor the work of the American Foundation for the 
     Blind. Will you not help me hasten the day when there shall 
     be no preventable blindness; no little deaf, blind child 
     untaught; no blind man or woman unaided?

  There is a long history, both in our country and in other countries 
around the world, of private philanthropy and these prizes. Going back 
to the early 18th century, there was a prize for longitude. The 
Harrisons, father and son, worked for nearly 40 years to develop a 
clock to precisely measure where they were on the Earth, to measure 
longitude.
  We currently have something called the X Prize, which gave money last 
year to a company that developed a technology to speed up the cleanup 
of oil in the ocean after BP's disaster.
  Siemens Foundation gives a $100,000 prize. That was given last year 
to a 17-year-old girl from California who developed a nanoparticle 
that, with a chemotherapy agent, goes directly to treat tumors. A prize 
from Siemens was also given to 15-year-old Benjamin Clark, who won the 
prize for his work in how stars are born.
  I love the idea, and I think it is underappreciated, of private 
philanthropy. Today, I am happy to be here with you to congratulate 
Sandy Greenberg for putting forward this prize, and I hope it will 
bring some results.
  I think there is within our grasp the ability to treat and, 
hopefully, prevent blindness.
  Mr. COONS. I thank Senator Paul. I ask unanimous consent to enter 
into a colloquy with my colleague from Kentucky.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, it certainly hasn't escaped the expert 
knowledge of my colleagues here today that 2020--the date of the prize 
of Sue and Sandy whom we have spoken about--is also the numerical 
indication of perfect vision. So the goal to end blindness by 2020--
which is what the Sandy and Sue Greenberg prize is calling us toward--
is also a year on the calendar, a year just over 7 years away. In those 
7 years, Sandy Greenberg has the courage, the audacity, the strength to 
believe we can end blindness, working together, by 2020. It is a goal 
that could transform our society, our world, and the lives of millions 
who live in darkness today. We can do it.
  At earlier times in our history, as Senator Paul has just reflected, 
we have come together in response to audacious goals or inspiring 
prizes to conquer other debilitating diseases. One that Sandy Greenberg 
shared with me when we sat together and first talked about this was 
polio, a crippling disease that struck terror into the hearts of 
parents every summer.
  Dr. Jonas Salk convinced medical researchers at charities such as the 
March of Dimes to instead turn their focus from treatment, with devices 
such as the iron lung, to ending the disease itself. Because of that 
kind of forward thinking, polio has now been largely eradicated and 
does not threaten children in the United States, although it remains in 
a few isolated outposts around the world.
  We can see even more cutting-edge examples today in my home State of 
Delaware. Just earlier this week, I met with scientific researchers Dr. 
Kmiec from Delaware State University and the leaders of a company 
called Orthogenics, who are taking on the audacious goal of ending 
sickle cell anemia. That particular effort--banishing this disease from 
bodies around the world through research and development--is something 
supported by public-private partnership.
  In the end, private contributions, extraordinary generosity by Sandy 
and Sue Greenberg and his family, are critically important.
  I happen to believe there is also a vital role for a partnership with 
the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and 
others that have the unique ability to bring researchers together, 
hopefully for efficient and effective advances in medicine.
  To continue the citations of the great disability rights advocate 
Helen Keller: ``Alone, we can do little; together, we can do so much.''
  Even in this era of austerity, these times of budget crunching and 
belt-tightening, in my view there are few areas more important for our 
sustained investment than the development of treatments and cures for a 
devastating, life-changing health condition such as blindness.
  In my view, there is also a pressing economic element to this 
humanitarian equation. Economists have said that most of the new wealth 
created in this country in the last century came from biomedical 
research and its application to fighting and changing the human 
condition. They have told us that curing and treating ancient diseases 
and conditions is a lot of what has driven the extraordinary economic 
growth of this country in the last century.
  We know that when we as a nation invest in making possible cutting-
edge advances, interconnected networks of learning make possible the 
next gigantic leap. I am so grateful to Sue and Sandy for making 
possible this challenge, for putting out this pot of gold to literally 
lift the sights of teams all over the world, of individuals, of 
communities of effort. It is an effort that could literally bring sight 
to the blind.
  Senator Paul, any closing thoughts?
  Mr. PAUL. I think what is great about the prize is it didn't set a 
short and limited goal. It goes for the whole thing: They want to 
prevent and cure blindness.
  I think we need more big thinking. We need to talk about let's cure 
diabetes, let's cure AIDS. Sometimes it takes an incremental approach. 
But sometimes it takes a big, grand or bold vision.
  The Senator mentioned Dr. Salk. In the early days, with the polio 
vaccine, some actually died from the vaccine. He had to move forward 
despite some obstacles and despite some setbacks.
  Originally, the whole idea of vaccination came from Dr. Boylston in 
Boston, preceding the time of our Revolutionary War. There, it was a 
live vaccine taken from the actual pustules of someone who had 
smallpox, lanced it, stuck it into the pustules, and then cut into a 
person who did not have smallpox and gave them the disease. He tried to 
give them a mild variant of this. For this, Dr. Boylston was hounded 
through the streets and mobs came to the house. The persons he chose to 
vaccinate first were his kids. That took a very bold step forward to 
vaccinate his kids. His kids survived, and the rest is history.
  George Washington had his family inoculated. Back at the time of the 
Revolutionary War, more people died from communicable diseases than 
died from actual bullets. This was true in most wars up until this 
century.
  I think it takes bold vision, and I think Sandy Greenberg will help 
to move this along with this prize. I love the idea of incentives. We 
are a country built on incentives. I don't think

[[Page 16740]]

any scientist is going to jump forward and say, I am doing it only for 
the prize. But prizes don't hurt, and we should acknowledge that these 
scientists who can come forward and may come forward with a great cure 
should be rewarded.
  I would like to thank Sandy Greenberg and his family for setting up 
this prize. I hope that out of this some great good will come for those 
who have gone blind and for prevention.
  Mr. COONS. I thank, Senator Paul. I, like the Senator, am confident 
that some great good will come out of this bold vision, out of this 
clear initiative.
  As we look forward at the health care debates that have raged 
throughout this Chamber and this country in the last few years, I will 
simply say in closing, as we look to the future of the United States, 
there is a path forward that says the right way to deal with 
skyrocketing health care costs and the fiscal challenges they provide 
is to simply crunch down, to limit, to narrow, to cut off access, and 
to manage downward.
  A competing and I think a more compelling and I think, frankly, a 
more American view is we should take bold risks. We should innovate. We 
should dare to speak of curing diseases that are immensely harmful and 
expenses that are challenges and burdens for our whole country and the 
world.
  This prize--this challenge from Sue and Sandy Greenberg--is something 
I think should lift the sights of all of us in this country to the very 
real possibilities of working together to find exceptional cures.
  I thank the Presiding Officer for letting us speak about this 
extraordinary American, his wife and his family and his quest to end 
blindness by the end of this decade.
  I urge anyone interested in this topic and interested in working with 
us further to visit the Web site endblindnessby2020.com. I thank Sandy 
and Sue Greenberg for their courage, their perseverance, and their 
commitment to bringing light to millions of their fellow men and women 
around the globe.
  I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.

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