RECOGNIZING DR. JAMES R. DOWNING

RECOGNIZING DR. JAMES R. DOWNING

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 40 (Tuesday, March 3, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 3, 2026)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E180] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] RECOGNIZING DR. JAMES R. DOWNING ______ HON. STEVE COHEN of tennessee in the house of representatives Tuesday, March 3, 2026 Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the pioneering children's cancer researcher Dr. James R. Downing, the President and CEO of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, who is stepping down from twelve years in that role to return to the laboratory. As CEO, he has led a $12.9 billion commitment to accelerate research and treatments of catastrophic pediatric diseases. His own laboratory research has focused on the genetic basis of cancers. As CEO, he was instrumental in creating the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, a genetic sequencing effort to discover why childhood cancers arise, spread and resist treatment. As the leader of St. Jude, he has been a driving force behind improving survival rates of cancer and other catastrophic diseases internationally by creating a global alliance of over 400 health care institutions assuring children around the world have access to the best and most-advanced therapies and care. Overseeing the management of the St. Jude, Dr. Downing has been recognized for its outstanding workplace culture and for being a forward-thinking workplace for diversity and for women. Dr. Downing has received numerous honors, including election to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as receiving the Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize, the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize from the American Society of Hematology, and the Pediatric Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Downing received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. He joined St. Jude in 1986 after training in anatomic pathology at Washington University in St. Louis and a fellowship in hematopathology at the University of Florida at Gainesville. In 2016, he was named to the Blue Ribbon Panel of then-Vice President Joe Biden's National Cancer Moonshot Initiative. In 2013, he was a finalist for Time magazine's list of the World's Most Influential People. He is a co-author on numerous medical journal articles on childhood cancers and treatment. While we await the naming of his successor as CEO this summer, I wish Dr. Downing well as he returns to the laboratory at St. Jude and hope that he continues to make significant progress in finding preventions, treatments, and cures for cancer, which will benefit millions of people around the world. ____________________