Læknablaðið : fylgirit - 01.06.2008, Blaðsíða 13

Dr. Dunbar received both her undergra-
duate degree in the History of Science
and her medical degree from Harvard
University. She received clinical training in
intemal medicine and hematology at the
Boston City Hospital and the University of
Califomia, San Francisco and postdoctoral
research training at the National Institutes
of Health. She is currently a tenured Senior
Investigator and Section Head in the
Hematology Branch of the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute. Besides directing
her laboratory research program focusing
on gene therapy, hematopoiesis, transpl-
antation and stem cell biology, Dr. Dunbar is
an active clinician with clinical protocols in
the field of autologous and allogeneic stem
cell transplantation, particularly for novel
indications such as for autoimmune disease.
She served as the director of the clinical
training program in hematology at the NIH
for 17 years. Dr. Dunbar served as Associate
Editor of the premier hematology journal
BLOOD from 1997-2007, and recently began
a term as Editor-in-Chief. She is the author
of over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journ-
The work of Professor Roger Williams
in clinical liver disease and research has
brought him a national and intemational
reputation with many awards and which
has been marked by Presidencies of both
the British and European Associations for
the Study of the Liver. His career in hepato-
logy began in October 1959 when he was
appointed Lecturer in Medicine to the Royal
Free Hospital. Over the subsequent five
years, which included a year as Rockefeller
Travelling Fellow to Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons, New
York, his main contributions were in
establishing the genetic basis of haemoc-
hromatosis, the different functional dist-
urbances in jaundice and original studies on
splenic blood flow in the genesis of portal
hypertension.
Moving to King's College Hospital in
August 1963 as Consultant Physician, he set
up from scratch the Liver Unit which over
the subsequent years came to encompass
major research and clinical facilities, receiv-
XVIII. ÞING FÉLAGS ÍSLENSKRA LYFLÆKNA
FYLGIRIT 57
Erlendir gestir
als. She lives in the District of Columbia with
her husband and two children.
Her laboratory studies basic mechan-
isms in hematopoiesis, particularly in large
animals and humans, and optimizing gene
transfer into primary hematopoietic cells.
These goals are synergistic: one must have
insight into the control of hematopoiesis
in order to suc cessfully manipulate and
genetically-modify hematopoietic cells, and
conversely, genetic marking techniques have
allowed novel approaches to the analysis
of in vivo hematopoiesis, with insights
applicable not only to gene therapy, but to
stem cell transplantation and other clinical
interventions. The laboratory has used a
variety of experimental models, but the
superior correlation of non-human primate
as compared to murine or in vitro human
hematopoietic assays to results in human
clinical trials has focused the majority of her
group's recent efforts on the rhesus macaque
model uniquely available to the group via
the Hematology Branch Research facility.
Only two other facilities world-wide can
perform transplantation, gene therapy and
Cynthia E.
Dunbar
M.D.
Head, Molecular
Hematopoiesis Section
Hematology Branch,
NHLBI, NIH
cell therapy experiments in primates. The
recent announcement of the development
of leukemia in recipients of retroviral gene
therapy directed at hematopoietic stem cellls
has re-emphasized the importance of long-
term and detailed preclinical testing of gene
therapy strategies in relevant primate mod-
els. Her group has also continued to investi-
gate the role of dysregulation of responses to
cytokines in leukemogenesis, a long-stand-
ing interest since her post-doctoral fellows-
hip. The impact of these events on expansion
and transformation of stem and progenitor
cell pools relates closely to the investigations
of in vivo stem cell dynamics.
ing grant support from the Medical Research
Council, Wellcome Trust, University of
London and many other organisations.
Pioneering work in liver transplantation
and acute liver failure were among the many
notable scientific and clinical achievements
which led in time to recognition of the Unit
by the University of London as an Institute
of Liver Studies and by the NHS, as a supra-
regional centre for liver disease.
Retiring from King's at the age of 65yrs,
Professor Williams continued his lifetime
commitment to Hepatology by moving in
October 1996 to University College London
where, again from scratch, he set up and
directed a new Institute. Purpose built, with
a generous donation from the Carole and
Geoffrey Lawson Foundation, an additional
floor funded by a donation from the Paul
Getty III Foundation, was added in 2004/5,
providing accommodation for some thirty-
five clinical and scientific staff. There too he
has continued his personal research interests
in liver failure including a new liver support
Professor
Roger
Williams
CBE, MD, FRCP,
FRCS, FRCPE,
FRACP, FMedSci,
FRCPI (Hon), FACP
(Hon)
device and liver transplantation - with
the first programme in the UK for adult
living donor grafts - and most recently he
has increasingly been involved in global
health issues relating to viral hepatitis
and HIV infection. On the clinical side, as
Honorary Consultant Physician with the
UCL Hospitals NHS Trust, he has overseen
a major expansion in the clinical services
for liver disease within the Hospital and
community.
Professor Wiliiams is also the Medical
Director of the Foundation for Liver
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