E. Donnall Thomas
Pioneer of bone marrow transplantation for leukemia.
Edward Donnall "Don" Thomas, an American physician, won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph E. Murray for pioneering cell and organ transplantation. He and his wife Dottie created bone marrow transplantation to treat leukemia. Thomas was professor emeritus at the University of Washington and director emeritus at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Edward Donnall Thomas
- Born
- 15 March 1920
- Birthplace
- Mart, Texas, U.S.
- Died
- 20 October 2012
- Place of death
- Seattle, Washington, U.S.
- Field
- Medicine
- Workplaces
- Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital
- Education
- University of Texas at Austin (BA, MA); Harvard University (MD)
Facts from the source article.
Biography
Thomas was born in Mart, Texas, and often shadowed his father, a general practice doctor. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, studying chemistry and chemical engineering, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1941 and a Master's degree in 1943. As an undergraduate he met Dorothy (Dottie) Martin, then training to be a journalist; they later married and had three children. Thomas entered Harvard Medical School in 1943, receiving a Doctor of Medicine in 1946, while Dottie worked as a lab technician to support the family. After a residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, he served two years in the United States Army as an internist in Germany. In 1955 he was appointed physician in chief at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York. There he studied rodents given lethal radiation doses that were saved by marrow infusions, then used dogs as a model system. He moved his lab to the United States Public Health Service in Seattle in 1963. Thomas received the National Medal of Science in 1990 and was among 22 Nobel laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto in 2003. He died of heart failure.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was E. Donnall Thomas born?
E. Donnall Thomas was born on 15 March 1920 in Mart, Texas, U.S.
When did E. Donnall Thomas die?
E. Donnall Thomas died on 20 October 2012 in Seattle, Washington, U.S.
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