"I've said in the past that I have two attributes: one is I'm stubborn to keep doing it and other is I attracted some good people to work with me"
~ Dr. E. Donnall Thomas
"To the world, Don Thomas will forever be known as the father of bone marrow transplantation, but to his colleagues at Fred Hutch he will be remembered as a friend, colleague, mentor and pioneer … The work Don Thomas did to establish marrow transplantation as a successful treatment for leukemia and other otherwise fatal diseases of the blood is responsible for saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the globe."
~ Larry Corey, M.D., president and director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
(Courtesy of the Boston Globe)
(Courtesy of KUOW)
Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, Nature
Dr. E. Donnall Thomas made substantial advancements in the field of bone marrow transplantation during his tenure at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He established the first bone marrow transplant center devoted to treating leukemia, aplastic anemia, and other hematological disorders.
"Don quite literally wrote the book on marrow transplantation …Don was a hero. He was, by far, the most influential person in my career, and I know that many others would say the same thing."
~ Fred Appelbaum, M.D., director of the Hutchinson Center's Clinical Research Division, a friend of Thomas' and an editor of the book.
Dr. Thomas conducted the first successful bone marrow transplant between identical twins, using this procedure to investigate ways to reduce the incidence of rejection. Through his research, he was able to develop new methods that enabled the first successful transplant between a leukemia patient and a non-identical donor.
The impact of Dr. Thomas' work is undeniable. With his innovations, it is estimated that the survival rate of lymphoma and leukemia patients with a favorable human leukocyte antigen (HLA) match increased to 85%. Under his leadership, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center also became one of the leading programs for cancer prevention research globally.