Jeanne Lusher, M.D., WSU distinguished professor of pediatrics, recently won a 2005 "Ability is Ageless" Award from Operation Able. Operation Able is an organization that seeks to meet the employment needs of mature individuals; promote lifelong learning among individuals, businesses and government; and assist the employer community in developing a competent workforce.
Dr. Lusher is a legend in the study and treatment of bleeding disorders. In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, the distinguished professor of pediatric hematology-oncology and Marion I. Barnhart, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Thrombosis Hemostasis Research at Wayne State University has conducted groundbreaking research, pioneered new treatments and received countless honors and awards.
More important to Dr. Lusher than any honors or awards, however, are the relationships she has established with those she has helped battle these complex diseases. When the National Hemophilia Foundation honored Dr. Lusher in 2001, it was Dr. Lusher's interactions with her patients that friend and former student Dr. Roshni Kulkarni remembered most about their first encounter.
"She was the embodiment of what every physician should be," Dr. Kulkarni said. "I saw firsthand the wonderful rapport and relationships she developed with her patients. She was a wealth of knowledge, and she truly cared about everyone."
In the research arena, Dr. Lusher has been at the forefront since 1966, when she was among the first to describe the antibody nature of factor VIII inhibitors (in most people with hemophilia, the disorder results from an inability to produce either factor VIII or factor IX clotting agents). Dr. Lusher's leading-edge research continued into the 1970s, when she was the first to fully describe the circulation of the spleen; the 1980s, when she organized and led a multi-center study of factor VIII concentrate potency; and through the 1990s to today as she continues to work on potentially groundbreaking gene therapies. To date, Dr. Lusher has authored nine books, 56 book chapters and 156 total original publications.
A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Dr. Lusher came to Wayne State in 1964. She has been honored by the university countless times for teaching and research excellence, receiving the WSU Faculty Merit Award every year since 1975 and, in 1997, becoming only the 10th WSU faculty member to earn the title distinguished professor. She has also served as president of the WSU Academy of Scholars.