Int J Hematol (2014) 99:103–104 DOI 10.1007/s12185-014-1499-9
OBITUARY
Professor John M. Goldman, CML Pioneer 1938–2013 Robert Peter Gale
Published online: 12 January 2014 Ó The Japanese Society of Hematology 2014
John M. Goldman, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, was a leader in studies of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) for the last 40 years. John was born in 1938 and educated at Magdalene College, Oxford where he read Medicine completing his medical training at St. Bartholomew Hospital, London. He initially considered a career in surgery, then oncology and radiation therapy but realized his gift was in haematology continuing his studies at the
R. P. Gale (&) Section of Haematology, Division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected]
University of Miami and Harvard University. In 1971 John joined a distinguished group of haematologists in the Department of Haematology at Hammersmith Hospital including Sir David Galton, Professors Victor Hoffbrand, Daniel Catovsky and others. He worked closely for several years with Prof. Lucio Luzatto eventually heading the Department and Medical Research Council Leukemia Unit. Prof. Goldman trained the current generation of eminent British haematologists too numerous to mention including his successor at the Hammersmith Prof. Jane Apperley. Prof. Goldman pioneered use of auto- and then allotransplants in CML. He helped in finding the Anthony Nolan Trust of one-half million volunteer donors so as to extend applicability of allotransplants to more persons with leukaemia and a leukaemia-orientated charity, LEUKA. In the 1990s Goldman focused on promising research on imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor directed towards the genetic mutation causing the disease defined in 1983 by Profs. Eli Cannani, Robert Peter Gale and others. The drug worked brilliantly in preclinical studies done by Prof. Brian Drucker but no drug company was willing to develop it because leukaemia is a rare disease. Much like Sirs Howard Florey and Ernest Chain who developed penicillin following its discovery by Sir Alexander Fleming but had to travel to the United States to find a drug company willing to produce it despite the potential to alter the course of WW II, Goldman flew to Basel to persuade Novartis to manufacture imatinib. He succeeded and imatinib and successor tyrosine kinase inhibitors have extended the lives of tens of thousands of people worldwide. Prof. Goldman founded several professional organizations promoting research and collaboration in blood disorders and transplantation including the European Haematology Association (EHA) and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). He was
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president of both and during 1998–2002 was Chairperson of the International Bone Marrow transplant Registry (IBMTR). In 1980, along with Prof. Gale he founded Bone Marrow Transplantation. John served on the editorial boards of many other journals including the International Journal of Hematology. Following his retirement from Hammersmith Hospital in 2004, Goldman focused on global health issues. He developed the International CML Foundation with Profs. Timothy Hughes and Jorge Cortes to make innovations in leukaemia diagnosis and therapy available worldwide. He also spent a year at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland as the Fogarty Scholar with Prof. John Barrett and where he helped standardize the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to guide therapy of CML. Late, he campaigned to make new cancer drugs available to people in developing countries. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050 more than one-half of new cancers will occur in developing countries. Prof. Goldman was considered the leader in his field. He published over 700 scientific papers and many books, coordinated an international community of leukaemia researchers and fostered a climate of openness, collaboration and free intellectual exchange. He also mentored a generation of leukaemia specialists who now head haematology departments across the UK and the world. John Goldman was a skilled physician with legendary devotion to his patients. His British and American
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colleagues though little of calling him at 0100 hours London time to discuss an idea or complex medical case; no one is certain when (or if) he ever slept. John Goldman was a great friend and admirer of Japanese haematology. He gave many lectures in Japan and had many Japanese students, colleagues and friends including Profs. Fumimaro Takaku, Mine Harada and Masao Tomonaga and many others. Prof. Goldman was a gentleman and scholar known by for his erudition, sense of irony, generosity and modesty. He enjoyed reading Saki, WIlde, Shakespeare, Greek mythology and histories of the Napoleonic wars. He loved skiing, spoke perfect French and passable Russian and Spanish (his Japanese was dreadful) and travelled extensively. He once drove from London to India with a group of his Oxford classmates. When their party was imprisoned by Iranian authorities, they escaped by drugging their captors with barbiturates. In a letter to the Times of which he was proud John tried to solve the problem of Greek claims over the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum. He suggested a duplicate set be made and each side alternately choose the piece from each pair they wanted until two full sets were assembled, each with some original and some duplicates. No one has come up with a better solution but the quandary remains; apparently, a trickier problem than curing CML.
OBITUARY
Professor John M. Goldman, CML Pioneer 1938–2013 Robert Peter Gale
Published online: 12 January 2014 Ó The Japanese Society of Hematology 2014
John M. Goldman, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, was a leader in studies of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) for the last 40 years. John was born in 1938 and educated at Magdalene College, Oxford where he read Medicine completing his medical training at St. Bartholomew Hospital, London. He initially considered a career in surgery, then oncology and radiation therapy but realized his gift was in haematology continuing his studies at the
R. P. Gale (&) Section of Haematology, Division of Experimental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected]
University of Miami and Harvard University. In 1971 John joined a distinguished group of haematologists in the Department of Haematology at Hammersmith Hospital including Sir David Galton, Professors Victor Hoffbrand, Daniel Catovsky and others. He worked closely for several years with Prof. Lucio Luzatto eventually heading the Department and Medical Research Council Leukemia Unit. Prof. Goldman trained the current generation of eminent British haematologists too numerous to mention including his successor at the Hammersmith Prof. Jane Apperley. Prof. Goldman pioneered use of auto- and then allotransplants in CML. He helped in finding the Anthony Nolan Trust of one-half million volunteer donors so as to extend applicability of allotransplants to more persons with leukaemia and a leukaemia-orientated charity, LEUKA. In the 1990s Goldman focused on promising research on imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor directed towards the genetic mutation causing the disease defined in 1983 by Profs. Eli Cannani, Robert Peter Gale and others. The drug worked brilliantly in preclinical studies done by Prof. Brian Drucker but no drug company was willing to develop it because leukaemia is a rare disease. Much like Sirs Howard Florey and Ernest Chain who developed penicillin following its discovery by Sir Alexander Fleming but had to travel to the United States to find a drug company willing to produce it despite the potential to alter the course of WW II, Goldman flew to Basel to persuade Novartis to manufacture imatinib. He succeeded and imatinib and successor tyrosine kinase inhibitors have extended the lives of tens of thousands of people worldwide. Prof. Goldman founded several professional organizations promoting research and collaboration in blood disorders and transplantation including the European Haematology Association (EHA) and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). He was
123
104
president of both and during 1998–2002 was Chairperson of the International Bone Marrow transplant Registry (IBMTR). In 1980, along with Prof. Gale he founded Bone Marrow Transplantation. John served on the editorial boards of many other journals including the International Journal of Hematology. Following his retirement from Hammersmith Hospital in 2004, Goldman focused on global health issues. He developed the International CML Foundation with Profs. Timothy Hughes and Jorge Cortes to make innovations in leukaemia diagnosis and therapy available worldwide. He also spent a year at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland as the Fogarty Scholar with Prof. John Barrett and where he helped standardize the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to guide therapy of CML. Late, he campaigned to make new cancer drugs available to people in developing countries. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050 more than one-half of new cancers will occur in developing countries. Prof. Goldman was considered the leader in his field. He published over 700 scientific papers and many books, coordinated an international community of leukaemia researchers and fostered a climate of openness, collaboration and free intellectual exchange. He also mentored a generation of leukaemia specialists who now head haematology departments across the UK and the world. John Goldman was a skilled physician with legendary devotion to his patients. His British and American
123
R. P. Gale
colleagues though little of calling him at 0100 hours London time to discuss an idea or complex medical case; no one is certain when (or if) he ever slept. John Goldman was a great friend and admirer of Japanese haematology. He gave many lectures in Japan and had many Japanese students, colleagues and friends including Profs. Fumimaro Takaku, Mine Harada and Masao Tomonaga and many others. Prof. Goldman was a gentleman and scholar known by for his erudition, sense of irony, generosity and modesty. He enjoyed reading Saki, WIlde, Shakespeare, Greek mythology and histories of the Napoleonic wars. He loved skiing, spoke perfect French and passable Russian and Spanish (his Japanese was dreadful) and travelled extensively. He once drove from London to India with a group of his Oxford classmates. When their party was imprisoned by Iranian authorities, they escaped by drugging their captors with barbiturates. In a letter to the Times of which he was proud John tried to solve the problem of Greek claims over the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum. He suggested a duplicate set be made and each side alternately choose the piece from each pair they wanted until two full sets were assembled, each with some original and some duplicates. No one has come up with a better solution but the quandary remains; apparently, a trickier problem than curing CML.
