Did you know that George Santos MD (1928-2021) was the first person to develop chemotherapy (Busulfan and Cytoxan) as preparative regimens for allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation? He was one of the early users of Cyclosporin as prophylaxis/treatment of Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD).
Santos graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Quantitative Biology followed by a master’s in Physical Biology and received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. He became interested in Bone Marrow Transplantation while working as a Naval Reserve at the U.S. Naval Radiologic Defence Laboratory in San Francisco.
Santos founded the Johns Hopkins Oncology Centre’s bone marrow transplant program and was its director from 1968 until 1994.
My interaction with George was in 1984. I had a patient with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) in second remission who required an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT). I did not have access to Total Body Irradiation (TBI) and could find no publication using chemotherapy as a preparative therapy for BMT for ALL. I telephoned George and he acceded to the use of Busulfan and Cytoxan. The patient was transplanted and engrafted successfully. This was one of the first patients to receive a BMT using chemotherapy as a preparative regimen for ALL.
George was a delightful colleague with whom to deal and his contribution to Bone Marrow Transplantation was immense.
