Jeanne M. Lusher, MD, a distinguished researcher and clinician in pediatric hematology, passed away on September 13, 2016.
Dr. Lusher had a long, distinguished career in pediatric hematology, as both a clinician and a researcher. In 1968, she joined Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSU) as an assistant professor of pediatrics, and Children’s Hospital of Michigan (CHM) as a pediatric hematologist/oncologist. Her career at WSU and CHM culminated in her becoming chief of Hematology/Oncology at CHM and Marion Barnhard Hemostasis Research Professor and Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at WSU. As a researcher, she focused on inhibitor development in factor VIII patients. Along with a colleague, she was the first to identify inhibitors as antibodies to factor VIII in 1966. She authored more than 270 peer-reviewed papers, nine books and more than 60 book chapters. Dr. Lusher also chaired or co-chaired numerous scientific symposia and congresses in US and abroad.
Dr. Lusher served as Chair of NHF's Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MASAC) from 1994-2000. She was elected to lifetime membership in WSU’s Academy of Scholars as Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics in 2001. Among her many awards, Lusher received NHF’s Outstanding Research Award in 1984 and the Kenneth Brinkhous Award for Outstanding Clinical Research in 1990. She was awarded the Distinguished Career Award from the Hemostasis & Thrombosis Research Society in 2009. In 2015, NHF recognized her longstanding dedication to the bleeding disorders community by bestowing her the Inspiration Award at the Spring Soiree.
"Dr. Lusher was a pioneer on many frontiers," said Val D. Bias, CEO of NHF. "As a researcher in her work with inhibitors, and as a woman in hematology. Her committment to the bleeding disorders community was displayed in her passion for research and her dedication to her patients, the physicians she mentored, and the organizations that benefitted from her wisdom and expertise. She will be missed."
Service information
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Memorial Service - 1:00 p.m.
Potere-Modetz Funeral Home
339 Walnut Boulevard
Rochester, MI 48307
Instate 11:00am. - 1:00pm
Send flowers or condolences to the family of Jeanne Marie Lusher MD.
Memorial contributions can be made to Michigan Humane Society, 30300 Telegraph Rd., Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025-4507. Telephone (248) 28311000.
