Pablo Rubinstein

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Pablo Rubinstein is a pioneer (during the 1980s) in freezing of umbilical cord blood or placental blood cells for the use for unrelated donors to treat diseases like Leukemia[1] and genetic diseases such as Taysachs and Sickle Cell Anemia[2]. He pioneered and established an international cord blood banking system and has played a leading role in international cord blood transplantation[3].

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[edit] Medical Background

Earning his M.D. degree from the Universidad de Chile in 1962, Rubinstein completed a surgical residency at Hospital Clinico Jose Joaquin Aguiree in Chile and completed a fellowship at M.I. Bassett Hospital at Columbia University. He also finished an international fellowship at the National Institutes of Health at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. He also taught as a professor at Universidad de Chile for four years.

[edit] History of Cord Blood Transplants

Following the first sibling-donor cord blood transplant in 1988, the National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded a grant to Rubinstein to develop the world's first cord blood program at the New York Blood Center[4], in order to establish the inventory of stem cell units necessary to provide unrelated, matched grafts for patients.

In 1993, Joanne Kurtzberg, Duke University Medical Center, performed the first two successful unrelated donor cord blood transplants[5]; one of which cured acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). As of 2006, more than 7,000 transplants from unrelated donors have been conducted on patients worldwide.

[edit] National Cord Blood Program

Rubinstein is co-founder and director, of the National Cord Blood Program at the New York Blood Center[6]. Along with his ex-wife and co-founder, Cladd Stevens, he and the program have enabled the inventory of umbilical cord blood units from ethnically diverse donors to grow, enabling it to serve the needs of patients across the world.

[edit] Medical Focus

Rubinstein specializes in immunogenetics, which encompasses the structure and function of genes that regulate immune responses, control the acceptance or rejection of tissue and organ transplants, and affect susceptibility to certain diseases.

He began in as an investigator at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute at the NYBC, and serves as director of the Fred H. Allen Jr. Laboratory of Immunogenetics.

Rubinstein is also an adjunct clinical professor at Columbia University and is the author of more than 200 research papers on immunogenetics, cord blood banking and transplantation[7].

[edit] Stem Cell Advocate

Rubinstein has testified to the Uniyed States Senate and House of Representatives on the importance of expanding funding Stem Cell research, and writes articles and papers on similar topics [8].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Leukemia Article
  2. ^ USA TODAY, Young lives get a fighting chance, By Rita Rubin, 7/13/2005"Pablo Rubinstein, director of the New York Blood Center's National Cord Blood Program, the world's oldest and largest cord blood bank"
  3. ^ Cord Blood: The Gift That Keeps on Living, by Douglas Page, Science/Medical Writer"He has courageously pioneered this field against many obstacles. In my opinion, he has not received enough credit for his work."
  4. ^ NIH data
  5. ^ Dr. Kurtzberg Info
  6. ^ NCBP
  7. ^ NCBI Documents on Dr. Rubinstein
  8. ^ Senate Hearing

[edit] Related Information

Maria L. Escolar, Michele D. Poe, James M. Provenzale, Karen C. Richards, June Allison, Susan Wood, David A. Wenger, Daniel Pietryga, Donna Wall, Martin Champagne, Richard Morse, William Krivit, and Joanne Kurtzberg (2005). "Transplantation of Umbilical-Cord Blood in Babies with Infantile Krabbe's Disease". New England Journal of Medicine 352 (20): 2069–2081. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa042604. 

This article incorporates public domain text from The U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.