Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2014, Volume 27, Number 2 | Page 77
good place for Baylor residents and researchers to place their
papers, as well as a good advertising vehicle among physicians
and health professionals. All four of his children became physicians, perhaps a tribute to his love of medicine.
Although he was dedicated to pathology, he had many other
interests and abilities. He was an upholsterer, having worked in
a furniture factory during high school. He was also a plumber,
electrician, and auto mechanic. He directed the continuing
education department at the medical school.
George was a good pathologist, a good teacher, a good organizer, a man blessed with a near-perfect memory, a forward
thinker, a good father, and a good husband. Most of all to me,
he was a good friend.
JOSEPH W. FAY, MD
Dr. George Race was instrumental in the early success of the
Baylor Research Institute and the Charles A. Sammons Cancer Institute. His dedication to laboratory discovery, clinical
pathological correlation in malignant disease, and translation
to the clinical practice of medicine was unsurpassed at Baylor.
His ability to understand and help direct investigator-initiated
research was evident in the early interaction with me during the
establishment of the hematopoietic cell transplantation program
at the Sammons Cancer Institute and Baylor Research Institute.
This was evident by his support and encouragement to me and
others in establishing new approaches to the treatment of cancer
with cellular therapy initially using hematopoietic stem cells
and, through his legacy, blood cells used to immunize patients
to treat cancer in clinical trials involving dendritic cells alone
and in combination.
Dr. Race made it possible for the establishment of the North
American Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program, one of
the first cooperative transplant programs in the United States,
whose members convened from several academic transplant
centers for meetings in Dallas. As a result, several important
developments were made in the field of clinical hematopoietic
cell transplantation. These discoveries tested in clinical trials
included new pretransplant conditioning regimens, cytokines
to enhance marrow and immune recovery posttransplant, and
methods to prevent graft-versus-host disease and opportunistic
infections. These efforts resulted in several publications as well
as Dallas community and peer-reviewed grant support.
Indeed, such early efforts with the support of Drs. John
Fordtran and Marvin Stone led to the successful launching
of studies in human immunology in our own laboratories
in collaboration with several investigators led by Dr. Jacques
Banchereau at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research
(BIIR). Such work resulted in a decade of successful funding by
the National Cancer Institute in collaboration with Dr. Ralph
Steinman, Nobel Laureate and discoverer of the dendritic cell.
Indeed, the blood and marrow transplant research in some way
played an important part in establishment of BIIR. Dr. Race
with others provided the scientific and clinical catalyst for the
BIIR, which has evolved into a major immunology institution
with seminal work in autoimmunity, cancer immunotherapy,
transplantation immunology, and infectious disease.
April 2014
Dr. Race directly and indirectly is recognized as one of the
most important members of the Baylor Research Institute’s success. His attitude, work ethic, and interests continue to flourish.
Dr. Race will be missed by many.
MICHAEL RAMSAY, MD
George Justice Race, MD, PhD, was a giant of a man and
physician. His contributions to medicine and to BUMC have
been outstanding. George’s counseling and mentoring for me,
during my career at Baylor, will never be forgotten.
George Race became chief of pathology at BUMC in 1959,
but he also became a physician leader at Baylor. He planned
and built the first “state-of-the-art” pathology laboratories.
F