Recognizing Dr. Lily P. Hussein on 55 Years of Service At John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County
Floor Speech
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Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a fellow Illinoisan, Dr. Lily P. Hussein, a physician who recently marked her 55th year of service at Chicago's John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County, making her the longest serving physician in that hospital's 190-year history. In addition, Dr. Hussein is the nation's longest serving physician at one hospital and one of the nation's longest serving female physicians.
Dr. Hussein was born in Mosul, Iraq in 1937, the oldest of six children, five of whom would go on to become physicians. Dr. Hussein is a fifth-generation physician, whose father, grandfather, great grandmother and great-great grandmother all practiced medicine. Her father, Dr. Malcolm Parhad was a pioneer in neurosurgery who trained at The Yale School of Medicine.
In 1964, Dr. Hussein graduated first in her class from the University of Baghdad College of Medicine--a feat that was personally recognized by Iraq's President. Upon graduation, she immigrated to the U.S. to continue her medical career. After a year of training in Danbury, Connecticut, she arrived as a Medical Resident at the Cook County Hospital in 1965. She began as a Family Medicine Resident but soon discovered the field of Oncology and dedicated her career to fighting cancer. In 1967, she married a fellow Cook County Hospital resident, Dr. Jaafar Hussein, to whom she has been married for 55 years. Together they have five children, four of which are in the field of medicine.
Dr. Hussein is most proud of the relationships she has built with her thousands of patients over the past seven decades. Notably, Dr. Hussein has stayed at Stroger Cook County Hospital because its mission of serving the poor is aligned with her belief that every human being deserves world-class medical care. To this day, Dr. Hussein cites those famous words on the Statue of Liberty as inspiration to continue her public service: ``give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.''
Mr. Speaker, I'm honored to recognize a trailblazer and someone who embodies the best of America.
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