EHA Jean Bernard Lifetime Achievement Award

Emili Montserrat

Emili Montserrat is Professor of Medicine at the Institute of Hematology and Oncology, Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona and Chairman of the European Research Initiative for CLL (ERIC).

His main areas of interest are chronic lymphoproliferative disorders and lymphomas in which he and his group have made seminal contributions. Emili Montserrat is one of the founding members of the International Workshop on CLL (IWCLL) and the European Hematology Association (EHA).

He is a member of the WHO Committee for Chronic Lymphoid Leukemias, co-chair of the WHO Clinical Advisory Committee for the Classification of Hematological Malignancies, Leukemia and Lymphoma Molecular Profiling Project (NCI) and International Oncogenome Consortium. Dr Montserrat is on the board of many important journals in hematology and oncology and is a regularly invited key-speaker at the most important meetings in hemato-oncology. He has received many awards, including the Investigator of the University of Barcelona. Lilly Award in Biomedicine, ESMO life-time Achievement Award, National Award in Oncology (Fundación Echevarne, Spain), Rai-Binet (IWCLL) Medal, and Distinguished Senior He is an honorary member of many Universities and scientific organizations.

Jean A Bernard (May 26, 1907 - April 17, 2006) was a French physician and hematologist. He was professor of hematology and director of the Institute for Leukemia at the University of Paris. After graduating in medicine in Paris in 1926 Bernard commenced his laboratory training with the bacteriologist Gaston Ramon at the Pasteur Institute in 1929.

In 1932 Bernard gave the first description of the use of high dosage radiotherapy in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease. Bernard's research has ranged from the demonstration of neoplastic nature of leukemia (1933-1937) to the formulation of methods of treatment. Bernard gave his name to Bernard's syndrome and Bernard-Soulier syndrome. In all, Bernard published 14 textbooks and monographs on hematology. He was elected at the Académie Française on March 18, 1976.

In 1981 he was elected as a member of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Department of Medical Sciences. In 1983, he was awarded the Artois-Baillet Latour Health Prize.
In 1947, he and Dr Marcel Bessis developed exchange blood transfusion as a therapy for childhood leukemia. The transfusions induced what is believed to have been the first temporary remission of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

In 1948, Dr Bernard and Dr Jean-Pierre Soulier described a hereditary syndrome that did not allow platelets to stick to blood vessels and form clots. It leads to bleeding in children and is now known as the Bernard-Soulier syndrome.

Previous winners of the EHA Jean Bernard Lifetime Achievement Award