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Donald J. Fernbach

Donald Joseph Fernbach MD (April 10th, 1925- September 22, 2013) was an American pediatric hematologist oncologist and professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He was a pioneer in the subspecialty of Pediatric Oncology.

Biography

Fernbach was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Floral Park on Long Island, NY. His parents were Jules Fernbach and Dorothy Hever. He served as an antitank gunner in 100th Infantry Division in France from 1944 to 1945. For his courage was awarded a Bronze Star. In 1948 Fernbach received an A.B degree from Tusculum College, Greenville, TN. In 1952 he earned his MD from George Washington University School of Medicine. Fernbach entered his residency in pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine as one of its first residents and then completed a Jesse Jones Fellowship at Baylor. In 1954, he completed a residency in pediatric pathology at Children’s Medical Center in Boston under Dr. Sidney Farber. He then completed a hematology fellowship with Dr. Louis Diamond followed by an oncology and tumor therapy fellowship again with Dr. Sidney Farber. While in Boston, he held a teaching fellowship at Harvard University.

In 1957 Fernbach returned to Texas and joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine. In 1958, he founded the Research Hematology-Oncology Service at Texas Children’s Hospital, now known as the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center. From 1957 to 1991 Fernbach served as the Head of the Hematology and Oncology Section of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, Chief of the Hematology and Oncology Service at Texas Children’s Hospital, and Director of the Research Hematology Laboratory at Texas Children’s Hospital. During his tenure at Baylor, he became a professor of pediatrics and enjoyed mentoring physician scientists.

In 1957, Fernbach co-founded the Southwest Cancer Chemotherapy Working Group (SWCCWG), a group that consisted of physicians who were previously treating cancer independently. They became a research team, developing protocols for experimental drugs and then combining results to draw statistically significant conclusions. Fernbach, his research team and SWCCWG discovered the value of cyclophosphamide, which became one of the most effective and widely used chemotherapy agents for adults as well as children with leukemia. This group later became known as the Southwest Oncology Group, SWOG, and eventually the Pediatric Oncology Group, POG, as it grew to 42 medical institution participants around the country. In 2000, the POG became the Cancer Oncology Group, the COG, and is a merger of U.S. and Canadian Cancer Research institutions.

In 1959 Fernbach and J. J. Trentin performed the first isologous bone marrow transplant from one identical twin to another to treat aplastic anemia.

As the director of the Blood Transfusion Services at Texas Children’s Hospital from 1957-1971, Fernbach was the first physician in the South to use a plastic blood bagging system, and one of the first anywhere to use blood component therapy for children. He divided whole units into mini-units consisting of 50 mls for transfusions in young children reducing the waste of a full pint of blood. He was the first to separate blood into components and make them available in the new plastic bagging system. Because of his efforts, TCH was the first hospital in Houston to give platelet transfusions.

Fernbach led the effort to develop newborn screening for sickle cell disease years before it became a state mandate. He educated pediatricians on how to use blood smears to detect blood diseases early and accurately, saving patients unnecessary added medical and travel expenses and identifying pathologies that need treatment sooner. By 1983, 60,000 blood cord collections of neonates were collected checking for hemoglobin abnormalities such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, hemoglobin E, and hemoglobin C aplastic anemia. To protect the children in his care, he led the movement to ban smoking in the Texas Medical Center. Fernbach assisted heart transplants by determining blood and tissue compatibility with the incoming hearts.

Fernbach co-authored the first textbook on Clinical Pediatric Oncology with Dr.Waturu Sutow and Dr. Teresa J. Vietti. In 1978, he is credited with initiating the Ronald McDonald House in Houston. When Fernbach started his career in 1958, the survival rate for children with acute lymphoid leukemia was less than one percent. By 1982, it had advanced to 60%. At that time, major improvements were made in every disease he studied except for neuroblastomas. By the end of his career, he published more than 200 articles and abstracts.

Honors and Awards


 * American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology
 * Elise C. Young Chair of Pediatric Oncology at Baylor College of Medicine
 * Citation from the Texas Division of the American Cancer Society for leadership in securing coverage for children with cancer under the Crippled Children’s Services of Texas.
 * Distinguished Faculty Award by the Baylor College of Medicine Alumni
 * Honored by the Leukemia Society of America, Houston Chapter; the Friends of Houston Hospice; and the Ronald McDonald House Houston
 * Gibson D. Lewis Award for Clinical Activities in Cancer Control by the Texas Cancer Council
 * St. George Medal in recognition for outstanding contribution to the control of cancer by the American Cancer Society - National Division.
 * Houston Alumnae of Kappa Alpha Theta established the Donald J. Fernbach M.D. Lectureship Series at Texas Children’s Hospital to honor his contributions to the treatment of pediatric cancer and his love of teaching.

Publications

A partial list of his publications:


 * Fernbach DJ and Trentin JJ, Isologous bone marrow transplantation in an identical twin with aplastic anemia, Proceedings of VIII International Congress of Hematology (September) 1960, Vol 1, pp. 150-154. https://1drv.ms/b/s!Au_oj-QCLpkIgxfaHt9-tR20Asaz?e=MYjerd
 * Fernbach DJ, Sutow WW, Thurman WG, and Vietti TJ: Clinical evaluation of cyclophosphamide. A new agent for the treatment of children with acute leukemia. JAMA 182:30-37, October 6, 1962.
 * Fernbach DJ, Griffith KM, Haggard ME, Holcomb TM, Sutow WW, Vietti TJ, and Windmiller J: Chemotherapy of acute leukemia in childhood. Comparison of cyclophosphamide and mercaptopurine. New Engl J Med 275:451-456, September 1, 1966.
 * Haddy TB, Fernbach DJ, Watkins WL, Sullivan MP, and Windmiller J: Vincristine (NSC-67574) in uncommon malignant disease in children. Cancer Chemotherapy Rep 41:41-45, September, 1964.
 * Fernbach DJ: Where there is Nicotiana, there is cancer. Texas Med 82: 6-7, 1986.
 * Fernbach DJ: The peripheral blood smear for diagnosing childhood anemia. Consultant 20:168-177, June, 1980
 * Fernbach, DJ: Cancer in Childhood. The Medical Journal. St. Joseph’s Hospital 15: 190-196, December, 1990.

References