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By: Tejas Yerramilli - 08/19/2024
Who started stem cell transplantation? Although the first person to perform a stem cell transplant was Georges Mathes in 1958, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas is considered to be the father of stem cell transplantation because of his revolutionary research in the field of stem cell transplantation (bone marrow transplants in particular). Stem cell transplantation is one of the most transformative and life-changing procedures in today’s world, and the man who pioneered them is just as incredible.
Thomas had always had a passion for medicine and the sciences in his childhood, and attended the University of Texas, Austin for his undergraduate schooling. After graduating, he moved on to Harvard Medical school where he earned his M.D.. Early on in his residency program at Peter Brent Brigham Hospital, Thomas developed a fascination for blood related diseases (leukemia in particular), something that would shape the entire trajectory of his career. By the time the 50’s rolled around, he had begun looking into bone marrow transplantation as a means of treating and curing these blood related diseases, something that was a completely new and revolutionary idea at the time.
Thomas was inspired by early experiments with mice. After exposing them to large amounts of radiation, researchers would experiment with using bone marrow in order to replenish and regenerate new red blood cells. It was through these experiments on mice that he knew bone marrow transplantation had a possibility of being feasible to perform on humans, and he thus began his research into the field, eventually performing new experiments of his own.
Thomas had made some serious progress in his research, and by 1955, he felt confident enough to attempt his first bone marrow transplant on a patient. Doris Buckner was suffering from leukemia, and the donor Thomas and his team used for the procedure was Buckner’s identical twin sister, which was considered an extremely good match. Tragically, however, Buckner’s body rejected the transplant, and she passed away a few months later, rendering the procedure unsuccessful.
After this, Thomas moved to the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in New York, where he worked tirelessly for the next few years on combating graft-versus-host disease, one of the most common complications of transplantation. In 1969, Thomas moved across the country to Seattle in order to join the now renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he arguably did his most significant and well remembered work.
Almost 20 years after the tragedy of Doris Buckner, Thomas and his team were able to conduct some of the first successful bone marrow transplants in the early part of the 70s, cementing Thomas’ legacy as one of the most influential and significant medical minds of our time.
Wrap-up
As a result of his groundbreaking research, Thomas was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1990, an award he won alongside the man who pioneered kidney transplantation, Dr. Joseph Murray. After winning the prize in 1990, Thomas chose to retire, but still remained close to the scientific community and remained a non-active member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In his retirement, Thomas was renowned for his life’s work, and continued to mentor young scientists until his passing in 2012. Dr. E. Donnall Thomas was one of the most brilliant and innovative minds of the modern age, and has without a doubt earned the title of “The Father of Stem Cell Transplantation”.
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