MEET LOCAL LEGEND: Jeanne M. Lusher, M.D.

BIOGRAPHY

Growing up in Ohio, Jeanne Lusher was a talented high school musician playing multiple instruments in the school band and orchestra, and she thought of making music her career. But she also loved science and biology and when the time came to choose a career path, she decided to pursue a pre-med curriculum in college. It was a serendipitous choice, for while music has been a lifetime passion, her choice of medicine has led to a distinguished career helping patients and advancing research in hemophilia and blood disorders.

Her interest in blood disorders began one night during her pediatric residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans when a young girl, bleeding profusely from hemophilia, which is rare in females, was brought in for emergency treatment. Jeanne Lusher helped treat the girl that night, and then dedicated herself to studying blood disorders.

Later at Charity Hospital, when the staff hematologist left, Jeanne Lusher stepped forward. "We had all of these children with hematology problems and somebody had to help. I just felt responsible for those kids so I volunteered."

As Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Co-Director of Hematology and Oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, where she has taught for over 35 years, Jeanne Lusher has been active in researching coagulation and bleeding disorders. She and her colleagues were among the first to recognize the risk for the incipient changes in immune function and ultimately the risk for AIDS in hemophiliacs receiving blood products from multiple donors. She also started the first comprehensive hemophilia program at the Children's Hospital of Michigan.

Nominated by Representative Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI-13th), Jeanne Lusher received her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine. She began her career with an internship at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and did her residency at the Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

She is the Marion I. Barnhart Hemostasis Research Professor at Wayne State University, Director of the Hemophilia, Hemostasis and Thrombosis Program, and Medical Director of the Coagulation Laboratories at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, the recipient of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Distinguished Career Award, and the Kenneth Brinkhous Award for Outstanding Clinical Research in Hemophilia. In 2004, she was elected President of the University Academy of Scholars at Wayne State University.

Jeanne Lusher has authored or coauthored nine books, more than 60 book chapters, and more than 170 original publications. She is an associate editor for the Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Hemophilia Forum and a member of the editorial boards of Hemophilia , International Monitor on Hemophilia , and International Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology .

A colleague wrote of her recently, "She is a gentle, caring person who teaches by the example of her own dedication and commitment."