E Donnal Thomas

Two American physicians who pioneered organ transplantation techniques that have helped save tens of thousands of patients were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm conferred the prestigious award on Dr. Joseph E. Murray, 71, of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, 70, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

E. Donnall Thomas, a physician who pioneered the use of bone marrow transplants in leukemia patients and won the 1990 Nobel Prize in medicine, died Saturday in Seattle of heart disease. He was 92. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which Thomas joined in 1974, announced his death. Thomas' work is among the greatest success stories in the treatment of cancer. Bone marrow transplantation and its sister therapy, blood stem cell transplantation, have improved the survival rates for patients with some blood cancers to around 90% from almost zero.

E. Donnall Thomas, a physician who pioneered the use of bone marrow transplants in leukemia patients and won the 1990 Nobel Prize in medicine, died Saturday in Seattle of heart disease. He was 92. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, which Thomas joined in 1974, announced his death. Thomas' work is among the greatest success stories in the treatment of cancer. Bone marrow transplantation and its sister therapy, blood stem cell transplantation, have improved the survival rates for patients with some blood cancers to around 90% from almost zero.

Two American physicians who pioneered organ transplantation techniques that have helped save tens of thousands of patients were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm conferred the prestigious award on Dr. Joseph E. Murray, 71, of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, 70, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.