William Dameshek

William Dameshek was an American hematologist. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School and spent the early part of his career at Beth Israel Hospital. He was the founder of Blood, the prime core clinical journal of hematology, in 1946. He is also credited with describing the concept of myeloproliferative diseases in 1951. In addition, he participated in the first studies of nitrogen mustard in various hematological malignancies, widely considered the first uses of chemotherapy in malignant diseases. Dr Dameshek was also the first one who described chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a common form of leukemia in adults.