Lemuel Whitley Diggs (January 8, 1900 – January 8, 1995) was an American

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

who specialized in

sickle cell anemia Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

and

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

Biography

Diggs was born in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

, but spent most of his life and did most of his work in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. He received his undergraduate and master's degrees from Randolph-Macon College, and his medical degree in 1925 from

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...

. He joined the faculty of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in Memphis in 1929 and later became Director of Medical Laboratories. In 1938 he helped create in Memphis the first

blood bank A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...

in the South, only the fourth in the US. He helped

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running si ...

create the

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, pa ...

, also in Memphis, in 1962. In 1971 his work led to the creation of the first comprehensive research center for sickle cell disease at the University, which later endowed a Professor of Medicine position named after him. His ''Morphology of Human Blood Cells'', which he co-authored with Ann Bell and medical illustrator Dorothy Sturm, is on its 7th edition and is still used as a textbook.Amazon.com: Morphology of Human Blood Cells: 7th Edition
A 1984 interview with Diggs entitled, ''History of Medicine in Memphis'' has been published.Mabry, Thelma Tracy
History of Medicine in Memphis: Interview with Dr. Lemuel Whitle Diggs, November 15, 1984.
'. Oral History Research Office, Memphis State University. Diggs died in January 1995, on his 95th birthday.

Publications

* 1954: (with Dorothy Sturm & Ann Bell) ''The morphology of blood cells in Wright stained smears of peripheral blood and bone marrow'', Chicago: Abbot Laboratories * 1956: ''Morphology of Human Blood Cells'' * 1933: (with C.F. Ahmann & J. Bibb) "The incidence and significance of the sickle cell trait",

Annals of Internal Medicine ''Annals of Internal Medicine'' is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. ''Annals'' publishes content relevan ...

7: 769-778

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diggs, Lemuel 1900 births 1995 deaths Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni American medical researchers People from Hampton, Virginia American pathologists 20th-century American physicians Scientists from Virginia