James O. Armitage, MD
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents voted to rename an area of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in honor of a longtime professor who has made extraordinary contributions to the institution. The Center for Leukemia and Lymphoma Research, established in 2003, was renamed by the board to the Dr. James O. Armitage Center for Leukemia and Lymphoma Research in honor of his internationally recognized expertise in the treatment of lymphoma.
In 1982, James O. Armitage, MD, launched one of the most successful bone marrow transplant programs in the world for the treatment of blood cancers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The medical center’s first bone marrow transplant was performed on April 1, 1983.
Since that time, Dr. Armitage, the Joe Shapiro Professor of Medicine, has seen it grow into a world-renowned program that has performed 5,000 transplants in patients from all 50 states and more than a dozen countries—4,530 transplants in adults and 470 in children. Most adults have sought the treatment hematologic cancers, particularly lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Pediatric transplants are normally performed for patients with more aggressive diseases such as acute leukemias and neuroblastoma, as well as nonmalignant diseases such as aplastic anemia and severe combined immunodeficiency.
Dr. Armitage, a 1973 graduate of the University of Nebraska, has served its Medical Center in various capacities, including Chairman of Internal Medicine and Dean of the College of Medicine. In January 2016, Dr. Armitage was named Deputy Editor of the ASCO-published Journal of Oncology Practice. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The ASCO Post and Past President of ASCO, as well as Past President of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians, and ASCO. ■
