Louis Diamond
Louis Klein Diamond was an American pediatrician. He is known as the "father of pediatric hematology".
Early life and education
Diamond was born on May 11, 1902 in Kishinev, then part of the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire. He was the son of History of [the Jews in Bessarabia|Jewish] parents Eliezer Dimant and Lena Klein. His family emigrated to the United States in 1904 following the Kishinev pogrom. He began his medical studies at Harvard University in 1919 and, on graduating in 1923, entered Harvard Medical School, receiving his M.D. in 1927.Career
Shortly after finishing medical school, Diamond studied briefly with Florence Sabin at the Rockefeller Institute before returning to New England, where he spent several years studying pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital under the guidance of Dr. Kenneth Blackfan.Diamond set up one of the first pediatric hematology research centers in the United States at Children's. Focusing on anemias, by 1930, he had succeeded in identifying thalassemia, a hereditary anemia that affected children of Italian and Greek ancestry. In 1932, along with Blackfan, he identified erythroblastosis fetalis, later called hemolytic disease of the newborn, at that time a significant disorder among newborns.
In 1938, Diamond and Blackfan described 4 cases of infant erythroid hypoplastic anemia and which was to become known as Diamond-Blackfan Anemia. He also discovered the blood diseases Gardner–Diamond syndrome, a painful bruising disorder, and Shwachman–Diamond syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects many different organs. He invented a Rh [blood group system|Rhesus blood factor] test with Neva Abelson.
He received the John Howland Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Pediatric Society.