Tim Russert of "" is widely regarded as the dean of American Doctor of Laws television news journalists. He is senior vice president and Washington bureau chief for NBC News, and also contributing anchor for MSNBC. In addition to serving as madera tor of "Meet the Press," he is a political analyst for NBC's "Nightly News" and "Today" and, on CNBC, has his own weekly program examining the role of the media in American society. He joined NBC News in 1984 and took over the helm of "Meet the Press" seven years later. Since then, that public affairs broadcast has become the most-watched Sunday morning interview program in America, and the most quoted news program in the world. Mr. Russert has interviewed every major figure on the American political scene. Mr. Russert is a graduate of and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Before joining NBC News, he was a special counsel in the and a counselor in the Governor's Office of the State of New York. Mr. Russert's work has been widely admired. In 2001, the Washingtonian named him the best and most influential journalist in Washington. His "Decision 200" interviews for "Meet the Press" with George W. Bush and AI Gore won the USC Annenberg Center's Walter Cronkite Award and the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association's highest honor, the Barone Award for excellence in journalism. He has also been the recipient of the John Peter Zenger Award, the Journalism Award, and the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism. Irish America magazine has named him one of the top 100 in the country, and he has been selected as a fellow of the Commission of European Communities. He has lectured at the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan presidential libraries. In honoring Tim Russert for his extraordinary career in journalism, we partic­ ularly recognize the extraordinary combination of concerned engagement and balanced inquiry he brings to the critical issues of the day.

Thomas F. Shields Thomas F. Shields is the founder and chief executive officer of the Shields Doctor of Laws Health Care Group, one of the nation's top health care providers. He also serves as chairman of the company. Mr. Shields launched his career in health care in 1972, when he and his wife, Mary Jane, opened Madalawn Nursing Home in Brockton, Massachusetts. In 1981, the Shields family opened the Brockton Dialysis Center; it quickly became the second-largest clinic of its kind in New England, and was later joined by a second dialysis center north of Boston. When the new medical imaging technique called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) began to replace such conventional modalities as X-rays and CAT scans, the Shields family sought to make this resource available to residents of areas south of Boston and opened Massachusetts' first independent MRI facili­ ty in 1986. Shields Health Care has now become the largest provider of mag­ netic resonance imaging (MRI) tests in New England. In addition to its eight MRI centers in Massachusetts, the Shields Health Care Group also operates the South Suburban Oncology Center, a state-of-the-art cancer facility in Quincy. Mr. Shields received a B.A. degree in history from St. Michael's College in Vermont in 1952. He is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Stonehill College, on whose board of trustees he has served since 1987 (since 1994 as chair). In 1998, he and Mary Shields were awarded Stonehill's Moreau Medallion for their outstanding dedication and service to the college. He is active, as well, in community affairs, having served as a trustee of Brockton Hospital and of High School, a director of Brockton Health Corporation, a director of the Cardinal Cushing School in Hanover, and a director of the Massachusetts Federation of Nursing Homes. He has also been affiliated with groups as diverse as Nativity Prep of Boston and the American Ireland Fund. We honor Thomas Shields both for his exemplary career and for his numer­ ous and significant contributions to the health and the well-being of his fellow citizens. 5