May 12, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 89 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E439-E440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IN RECOGNITION OF KENNETH LEVENO, MD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL C. BURGESS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 12, 2020

  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the exemplary 
work and life of service of Kenneth Leveno, MD with Parkland Hospital 
in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Leveno was instrumental in developing a number of 
the innovative programs that are an integral component of Parkland's 
Women and Infant's Specialty Health division for decades.
  He earned his undergraduate degree at Notre Dame University and his 
medical degree from Chreighton University School of Medicine. Dr. 
Leveno joined the Parkland medical staff in the 1970s and passionately 
sought to provide the best obstetrical care for patients entrusted to 
Parkland's care. His clinical studies demonstrated that access to 
prenatal care could mitigate health disparities among patients who face 
high levels of socio-economic hardship. He collaborated with medical, 
nursing and administrative leaders to create a highly organized, 
evidence-based system of care that led to excellent clinical outcomes 
and became known as the ``Parkland Way.''
  Dr. Leveno was a pioneer in the deployment of advanced practice 
providers to expand

[[Page E440]]

services to an ever-growing population of patients in need of care. In 
addition to the development of a low-risk delivery unit, he initiated 
the nurse-midwives program at Parkland. In 1987, Dr. Leveno recruited 
midwives across the U.S. and even abroad to launch Parkland's program, 
now one of the largest and most respected Certified Nurse-Midwives 
services in the United States. His groundbreaking research and 
development of innovative obstetrical care practices transformed 
Parkland's obstetric service and created a unified system that 
integrated prenatal delivery and postpartum care.
  Dr. Leveno devoted more than fifty years of his life to the medical 
profession, including serving as the UT Southwestern Jack A. Pritchard 
Chair in Obstetrics & Gynecology and was recognized as the 
Distinguished Physician Award by Parkland Hospital in 1998. His 
positive impact and worthwhile contributions to the medical profession 
will be sorely missed by the patients he so diligently served and by 
the colleagues who held him in great esteem. I am deeply grateful for 
his friendship and service and pray for comfort and peace for his wife 
and family.

                          ____________________