Dameshek, William, 1900-....

William Dameshek, 1900-1969, MD, 1923, Harvard Medical School, was Professor of Medicine at Tufts University Medical School. He served as Chief of Hematology at the New England Medical Center Hospital in Boston, Mass. from 1940 to 1966, and developed an international clinical and teaching facility in hematology. His research focused on bone marrow transplantations, leukemia, and the relationships between different blood diseases.

From the description of Papers, c.1960. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 79840711

William Dameshek (1900-1969), M.D., 1929, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, was Chief of the Blood Clinic at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (1928-1939), Senior Physician and Director of the Blood Research Laboratory at the New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts (1939-1966), Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts (1939-1966), Hematologist in Chief at the Boston Floating Hospital and Boston Dispensary, Massachusetts (1939-1966), and Attending Hematologist and Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York (1966-1969). Dameshek’s research focused on various aspects of hematology, including blood production, leukemia, the interrelation of blood disorders, and immunohematology. He is considered to be among the first to identify an effective chemotherapy agent.

William Dameshek was born in Veronezh, Russia, in 1900 to Bessie Dameshek (1877-1974), and in 1903 relocated with his family to Medford, Massachusetts. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1923, completing his internship and residency at the Boston City Hospital, Massachusetts, and then working for three years in the hospital’s hematology laboratory (1926-1928). From 1928 to 1939, he served as Chief of the Blood Clinic at Beth Israel Hospital. In 1939, Dameshek left Beth Israel Hospital for the New England Medical Center, where he established and directed the Blood Research Laboratory. Between 1939 and 1966, he also held additional appointments as Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School and Hematologist in Chief at the Boston Floating Hospital and the Boston Dispensary. Dameshek left New England Medical Center in 1966 to become Attending Hematologist and a Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical School (1966-1969).

Dameshek’s work encompassed many areas of hematology, including blood production and blood cell lysis, leukemia, bone marrow and bone marrow transplantation, the interrelation of blood disorders, coagulation disorders, and immunohematology. He is credited with proposing a technique for bone marrow extraction using a needle, collaborating in the first known multi-institutional chemotherapy trial, and developing treatments for various autoimmune diseases. Dameshek served as President of the International Society of Hematology (1954-1956), President of the American Society of Hematology (1964), Vice President for Medical and Scientific Affairs of the Leukemia Society of America, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He helped to establish the International Society of Hematology in 1946 and the American Society of Hematology in 1958, and was the first Editor in Chief of Blood (1946-1969). Dameshek received numerous awards for his work, including the Certificate of Merit of the American Medical Association (1942), the Billings Silver Medal (1952, 1953), the Premia Ferrata Medal (1958), and the Millard O. Thompson Gold Medal of the American Geriatrics Society (1968). His publications include, “The Hemolytic Syndromes” (1938), “Chemotherapy of Leukemia and Leukosarcoma” (1946), “The Hemorrhagic Disorders” (1946), Morphologic Hematology (1947), Spleen and Hypersplenism (1947), and Leukemia (1964, 1974) with Frederick W. Gunz (1914-1990).

William Dameshek married Rose Thurman (1901-1981) in 1923, and had one daughter, Elinor D. Reichlin (b. 1933). Dameshek died in 1969 of a rupture in the aorta during open heart surgery for a dissecting aneurysm.

From the guide to the William Dameshek papers, 1946-1969 (inclusive), 1962-1969 (bulk)., (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.Center for the History of Medicine.)