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Excerpt
Dr. Schwartz graduated from Columbia University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his internship at Montefiore Hospital in New York and his pediatric residency at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. After serving as Chief of Pediatrics at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, Dr. Schwartz launched his career in pediatric hematology as a fellow at the Boston Children's Hospital. In 1967, he assumed his first faculty position as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Jefferson Medical College. In 1972, he joined the University of Pennsylvania as Professor of Pediatrics, and for the next 18 years, he was the Chief of the Division of Hematology. From 1990 to 1996, he served as Physician-in-Chief of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He subsequently returned to Jefferson Medical College where he is currently Professor of Pediatrics and a member of the Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research.
Dr. Schwartz's research career has been distinguished not only by its depth but also by its breadth. In the 1960s and 1970s, he made some of the most important contributions to the understanding of the biochemistry of disordered globin synthesis in thalassemia. He and his collaborators, including Drs. David Natham, Y.W. Kan, Frank Oski, Frances Gill, and Shlomo Friedman, among others, characterized globin synthesis in α-thalassemia, β-thalassemia, Hb Lepore, hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin, and sickle β-thalassemia. Within 3 years of completing his fellowship, he had published single-authored articles in Science and the New England Journal of Medicine describing balanced globin synthesis in the bone marrow cells of individuals with β-thalassemia trait and identifying the silent carrier of β-thalassemia. During this time, Dr. Schwartz began a long-term, extremely productive collaboration with Drs. Toshio Akasura and Kazuhiko Adachi, studying the biochemistry and biophysics of normal and abnormal hemoglobins. In the proceeding years, Dr. Schwartz moved effortlessly into the emerging field of molecular biology. Working with Drs. Saul Surrey, Mortimer Poncz, Greg Semenza, and Stacy Month, among others, he used these new tools to explore normal regulation of globin and to identify the genetic mutations that not only explained specific thalassemic disorders but also helped clarify the process of gene regulation. Soon thereafter, he collaborated with Dr. Poncz in the cloning of the gene for platelet factor 4, with Dr. Steve McKenzie in the molecular characterization of the FcγRIIA receptor gene, and with Dr. Hannah Tamary in the molecular analysis of prothrombin abnormalities. Now, as then, he constantly seeks new ideas, and his perennial inquisitiveness takes him in new directions. At major meetings, he is just as likely to attend a session about a subject that is totally new to him as one dealing with hemoglobinopathies.
Dr. Schwartz's accomplishments in clinical research are equally impressive as those in the laboratory. Working with Drs. Marie Russell and Haewon Kim, he demonstrated the long-term benefits of transfusion therapy for the prevention of recurrent stroke in sickle cell disease. He developed unique approaches to iron chelation, and, in collaboration with Dr.
