2008-09-08

On Monday, September 8, 2008, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) congratulated ASH on its 50th anniversary during a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Below is the text of his speech as published in the Congressional Record. 

Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the American Society of Hematology, which is observing its 50th anniversary this year, and to salute the advances hematologists have been able to make in biomedical research, largely as a result of the funding for the National Institutes of Health that many of us in the Senate fight for each year.

ASH represents more than 15,000 clinicians and scientists committed to the study and treatment of blood and blood-related diseases, including blood cancers, bleeding and clotting diseases, and hereditary disorders. Hematologists have made remarkable contributions to the advancement of biomedical research and are active participants in NIH biomedical research programs, recipients of NIH grants, and contributors to NIH's biomedical research accomplishments. I am pleased to note that some of this groundbreaking research is being conducted in Iowa by ASH member Dr. George Weiner and his team at the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa.

Hematologists have been at the forefront of some of the most remarkable advancements in medicine over the past half century. ASH members have turned federal research dollars into effective treatments for diseases that were once disabling or a death sentence, and have been pioneers in the fields of bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy.

By the NIH's own estimates, the overall five-year survival rate for childhood cancers rose to nearly 80 percent during the 1990s from under 60 percent in the 1970s. A diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia was fatal for every child who developed it in the 1960s, but today, after new combinations of drugs were developed by hematology researchers, and aggressive treatment of the brain and spinal fluid were incorporated, approximately 80 percent of children with the disease are cured.

NIH also notes that the emergence of new, more precise ways to treat cancer, such as drugs that target abnormal proteins in cancer cells, have contributed to a dramatic increase in the average life expectancy for Americans. Again, hematologists have been at the forefront of these discoveries.

APL was once described as the most malignant form of acute leukemia. Today, the treatment of APL has become a model for treating cancer with targeted therapy. In combination with chemotherapy, targeted treatment has significantly improved survival in patients with APL and raised remission rates to about 85 percent.

In the 1950s, the only treatment for CML was radiation of the spleen, granting patients about 30 months of survival. Analysis of the CML-specific chromosomal translocation allowed the development of imatinib, a gene-targeting drug that is the paradigm for a new generation of "smart" drugs that allow disease-specific therapy. Using this nontoxic oral drug, more than 75 percent of patients diagnosed with CML achieve a durable, complete cytogenetic remission.

I have consistently fought for increases to NIH annual budget, and will continue to do so to ensure that hematologists and researchers around the nation continue to have the resources necessary to lead in new fields of biomedical investigation and translate new scientific discoveries into improved diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive strategies.

Again, I salute the American Society of Hematology for a magnificent first 50 years. With continued NIH funding, I am confident that hematologists will have even greater successes in treating and eliminating blood diseases over the next 50 years.

To read previous congratulations from Senator Arlen Spector and Representatives Michael Castle and Jesse Jackson Jr., head to the 50th Anniversary page.

back to top