Fantus, Bernard, 1874-1940

Bernard Fantus was born in 1874 in Hungary, and came to the United States in 1889. He began working in a drugstore, and by 1899 he had received an M.D. from the University of Illinois, College of Medicine. In 1902, Fantus moved with his family to Chicago and began to teach at the University of Illinois college of Medicine. He was in charge of the Medical Dispensary at the University of Illinois from 1902 to 1913, and was appointed Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Illinois in 1903 until his death in 1940. From 1924 to 1932, he worked as Associate Professor of Medicine at Rush Medical College.

Fantus worked primarily in therapeutics, and with many pharmaceutical companies. He also wrote two important textbooks: “Text-book of Prescription-Writing and Pharmacy” and “Essentials of Prescription-Writing.” In 1937, while Director of Therapueutics at Cook County Hospital, Chicago IL, Fantus brought together the technologies and processes for collecting, storing, and distribution of blood in a hospital or clinical setting and coined the term “blood bank” to describe it.