Skip to main content

News & Highlights - Spring 2021

Learn about the  latest discoveries at St. Jude.

St. Jude mourns the loss of pioneers, leaders

St. Jude recently lost two extraordinary leaders and giants in the research and treatment of pediatric catastrophic diseases: Joseph V. Simone, MD, who served as the third director of St. Jude; and Arthur W. Nienhuis, MD, the hospital’s fourth director.

Simone helped lead the first curative treatment for childhood leukemia, the legendary Total 5 clinical trial. During his tenure, the hospital instituted an HIV/AIDS clinical program, elevated its research to unprecedented heights, and created the world’s largest long-term follow-up clinic for childhood cancer survivors.

Nienhuis, a gene therapy pioneer, contributed to research that led to a cure for X-linked severe combined immune deficiency and to gene transfer that transformed life for men with a severe form of hemophilia B. Nienhuis oversaw the “billion-dollar expansion,” one of the most dramatic eras of growth in the hospital’s history.

The legacy of Simone and Nienhuis will live on through the students, scientists, clinicians, academicians and survivors who benefited from their genius, their vision, their passion and their leadership.

 
 

Donate Now Promise Archive

More articles from this issue

 
Close