News

A Special Tribute to Jeanne Lusher, MD, a pioneer in the field of women and girls with blood disorders

September 14, 2016

Jeanne Lusher, MD, a catalyst and icon of the movement to improve the lives of women and girls with blood disorders, died on September 13, 2016. 

Dr. Lusher was a pediatric hematologist/oncologist, and a researcher in the field of bleeding disorders, and has served as the director of the Hemostasis Program at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan until her retirement on June 28, 2013. 

Dr. Lusher’s interest in blood disorders began during her pediatric residency at Charity Hospital when she had the opportunity to care for a young girl with hemophilia who was bleeding profusely. Dr. Lusher helped care for the girl and dedicated her career to the study and treatment of blood disorders.

Dr. Lusher went on to have a distinguished career as a clinician, educator and research in blood disorders. Her publications and awards for her work in hemostasis are too numerous to count. She served as the Marion I. Barnhart Hemostasis Research Professor and Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Wayne State University; the director of the Hemophilia, Hemostasis and Thrombosis Program and the medical director of the coagulation laboratories at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan. She was the recipient of the Kenneth Brinkhous Physician of the Year Award by the National Hemophilia Foundation in 1993, the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Distinguished Career Award in 2002, and the Hemostasis & Thrombosis Research Society, Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

On October 10, 2013, FWGBD paid tribute to Dr. Lusher for being a catalyst and icon of the movement to improve the lives of women and girls with blood disorders. Dr. Lusher and several other dedicated health professionals were instrumental in the formation of our Foundation and it was our honor to pay tribute to her.

Despite the extraordinary demands on her time and attention, she never forgot about the women and girls with blood disorders. She will truly be missed by all of us here at the Foundation. 

(Homepage photo credit: by Bulent Ozgonenel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)