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Donald J. Fernbach
Donald Joseph Fernbach MD (April 10th, 1925- September 22, 2013) was an American pediatric hematologist oncologist. He was one of the earliest pioneers in the subspecialty of Pediatric Oncology.

Biography
Fernbach grew up in Floral Park on Long Island, New York. His parents were Jules Fernbach and Dorothy Hever. He was a WWII Army veteran with the 100th Infantry Division. Fernbach was an anti-tank gunner in France from 1944 to 1945 and was awarded three battle stars for bravery and heroism. He entered medicine to try to save lives in response to all of the death he witnessed in Europe during the war.

Fernbach received a bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Tusculum College in 1948. While in college he became the reptile and amphibian expert of northeastern Tennessee and amassed a large collection that is now at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.

He earned his MD from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1952. He 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 Fernbach 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 also in Boston followed by an oncology and tumor therapy fellowship again with Dr. Sidney Farber. While in Boston, he held a teaching fellowship at Harvard University. He credited his education, including medical school, to the GI Bill passed in 1944 for returning WWII veterans.

In 1957 Fernbach returned to Texas and joined the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine. He founded the Research Hematology-Oncology Service at Texas Children’s Hospital in 1958, now known as the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center. From 1957-1991 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 1959 Fernbach and J. J. Trentin performed the first isologous bone marrow transplant from one identical twin to another to treat aplastic anemia.1 Dr. Don Thomas, who won the Nobel Prize for the first bone marrow transplant in 1990, recognized Fernbach and Trentin’s 1959 bone marrow transplantation as the first of its kind in the world. He said he just couldn’t find it in the literature.2 This is quite possible as Pan Pacific Press who published the Proceedings of the viii International Congress of Hematology went out of business.

Fernbach co-founded the Southwest Cancer Chemotherapy Working Group (SWCCWG) in 1957, 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 has become of one of the most effective and widely used chemotherapy agents for adults as well as children.3,4 Vincristine was another drug that was tested and having good results in the early years.5

Along with his work on leukemia, Fernbach worked with the SWCCWG on developing treatment protocols for Wilm’s tumors, osteosarcomas, hypoplastic and aplastic anemia, neuro-, retino- and nephroblastomas, thymic alymphoplasia, functional asplenia, Ewing’s, rhabdomyo- other soft tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin’s, non-Hodgkin’s, and Berkitt’s lymphomas, role of B and T cells in combined immunodeficiency syndrome, chordomas, thrombocythemia among other diseases. This group later became known as the Southwest Oncology Group, SWOG, and as its membership grew to 42 medical institution participants, the Pediatric Oncology Group, POG. In 2000, the POG became the Cancer Oncology Group, COG, and is a merger of U.S. and Canadian Cancer Research institutions.

As the director of the Blood Transfusion Services at Texas Children’s Hospital from 1957-1971, Fernbach was the first physician in Houston 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.6 He was the first to separate blood into components and make them available in the new plastic bagging system. Fernbach led the effort to develop newborn screening for sickle cell disease years before it became a state mandate. To protect the children in his care, he led the movement to ban smoking in the Texas Medical Center.7 Fernbach emphasized the need to reduce the costs of medical screenings and demonstrated how tests could be performed ranging from 10 to 16 cents each. He assisted in heart transplants by determining blood and tissue compatibility with the incoming hearts. He educated pediatricians on how to use blood smears to detect blood diseases early and accurately before they are sent to hematologists, saving patients unnecessary added medical and travel expenses and identifying pathologies that need treatment sooner.8

In 1978, he helped start the Ronald McDonald House Houston along with pivotal parent leaders. In 1973, Fernbach co-edited the first textbook anywhere on Clinical Pediatric Oncology. By the end of his career, he published more than 200 articles and abstracts. When Fernbach started his career in 1958, the survival rate for children with acute lymphoid leukemia was less than one percent. By 1978, it had advanced to 60-70%. At that time, outstanding improvements were made in every disease he studied except for neuroblastomas.9

In his free time Fernbach did blood work-ups on sick reptiles at Houston Zoo. He was an avid philatelist, weekend rancher, photographer and storyteller.

Family
Fernbach married Freddie Lucille Lieber in 1954 and they had four children: Susan Fernbach, Judy Fernbach Simon, Karin Fernbach Kraft, and Don Fernbach Jr., eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Education

 * 1948  A.B. Tusculum College, Greeneville, TN
 * 1952  M.D. George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C.
 * 1952 - 1953	Rotating Internship - Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, TX
 * 1953 - 1954	Residency in Pediatrics, Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, TX
 * 1954 - 1955	Residency in Pediatric Pathology, Children's Medical Center under Dr. Sidney Farber, Boston, MA
 * 1956 - 1957	Jesse Jones Fellowship
 * 1956 - 1957	Fellow in Hematology-Children's Medical Center under Dr. Louis K. Diamond, Boston, MA
 * 1957 - 1958	Fellow in Tumor Therapy-Children's Medical Center under Dr. Sidney Farber, Boston, MA

Military Service
1943 - 1946	U. S. Army, European Theatre (3 Battle Stars) 399th Infantry, 100th Division.

Honors

 * 1951	   Smith-Reed-Russell Scholastic Honor Society, George Washington University Medical   School
 * 1975     Citation from the American Academy of Pediatrics for outstanding service on the Committee for Neoplastic Diseases
 * 1978     Citation from the Texas Division of the American Cancer Society for leadership of the Childhood Cancer Committee in securing coverage for children with cancer under the Crippled Children’s Services of Texas.
 * 1975 - 1981	American Cancer Society Professor of Clinical Oncology
 * 1983		Honoree, Leukemia Society of America, Houston Chapter
 * 1987		Honoree, Friends of Houston Hospice
 * 1988		Honoree, "Power of Love", Children's Oncological Services of Texas, Inc.
 * 1989		Elise C. Young Professor of Pediatric Oncology Baylor College of Medicine
 * 1990	   Recipient, 1989 Gibson D. Lewis Award for Clinical Activities in Cancer Control, Texas Cancer Council
 * 1991     Honoree, Candlelighters Children's Cancer Foundation for years of dedicated service to children
 * 1992		Distinguished Faculty Award, Baylor College of Medicine Alumni
 * 1993     American Cancer Society - National Division Award - the St. George Medal in recognition for outstanding contributions to the control of cancer.

Academic Appointments

 * 1947 - 1948	Assistant Instructor - Department of Zoology, Tusculum College, Greeneville, Tennessee
 * 1956 - 1957	Teaching Fellow - Harvard University Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
 * 1956 - 1957	Instructor in Pediatrics - Baylor University College of Medicine (on leave)
 * 1957 - 1960	Instructor in Pediatrics - Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
 * 1960 - 1964	Assistant Professor of Pediatrics - Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
 * 1964 - 1971	Associate Professor of Pediatrics - Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
 * 1971 - 1989	Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
 * 1989 - 1991	Elise C. Young Professor of Pediatric Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
 * 1991		   Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Professional Appointments

 * 1957 - 1991	Head, Hematology and Oncology Section, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
 * 1957 - 1991	Chief, Hematology and Oncology Service, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas
 * 1957 - 1991 Director, Research Hematology Laboratory, Texas Children's  Hospital, Houston, Texas
 * 1957 - 1971	Director, Blood Transfusion Services, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas
 * 1957 – 1992	Staff, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas
 * 1957 - 1991	Principal Investigator for Baylor College of Medicine in the Pediatric Oncology Group; formerly Southwest Oncology Group-SWOG- 1972 1973; formerly Southwest Cancer Chemotherapy Study Group -SWCCSG -1957-1962.
 * 1971 - 1977	Member, Committee on Neoplastic Diseases, American Academy of Pediatrics
 * 1973 - 1976	Member American Academy of Pediatrics: Liaison Member to the Joint Commission on Cancer, American College of Surgeons
 * 1978 - 1987 Member, National Wilms' Tumor Committee
 * 1975 - 1981	American Cancer Society, National Office: Member, National Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancer; Member, Clinical Fellowship Committee
 * 1975 – 1992	American Cancer Society, Texas Division, Inc., President (1981-1982)
 * 1976 - 1990 Member, By-Laws Committee, Baylor College of Medicine
 * 1977 - 1983	Technical Advisory Committee, Crippled Children's Services, Texas Department of Health
 * 1979 - 1981	Member, Bylaws Committee, American Society of Clinical Oncology
 * 1982 - 1982 Participant, Cancer Regional Studies Review National Cancer Institute
 * 1989 - 1991	Committee on Research, Texas Cancer Council
 * 1990 - 1991	Member, Lung Subcommittee, Natural Science Museum Exhibits Committee of the Harris County Medical Society
 * 1991 - 1992	Member, Hematology/Oncology Section, American Academy of Pediatrics