Simone Mayer (née Bloch) (18 May 1920 - 2006) was a French

hematologist Hematology (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, 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 ...

and author.

Early life

Simone Mayer was born in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, Moselle. Simone and her father were saved from deportation during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Father Antoine Girardin, a priest, hid her and her father from the authorities in his presbytery. They were not allowed to leave their room for any reason, nor make noise that could give them away.

Career

After the war, Mayer practiced medicine at "Medical Clinic A" at the Strasbourg Hospital, which was devoted to internal medicine. A photo from 1946 shows she was part of a small female complement at Clinic A (composed mostly of males and Catholic nuns). Her doctoral thesis was presented to the Faculty of Medicine, Strasbourg in 1951, describing oxysteroids. She served as chair of the

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 ...

Department at the Hôpitaux universitaires de Strasbourg, where she was a student of Robert Waitz. Along with Nobel Prize winner

Jean Dausset Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset (19 October 1916 – 6 June 2009) was a French immunologist born in Toulouse, France. Dausset received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 along with Baruj Benacerraf and George Davis Snell fo ...

, she helped establish a

histocompatibility Histocompatibility, or tissue compatibility, is the property of having the same, or sufficiently similar, alleles of a set of genes called human leukocyte antigens (HLA), or major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Each individual expresses many uni ...

laboratory at the CRTS Centre Régional de Transfusion Sanguine ("Regional Center for Blood Transfusion"), which led to the development of

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid tissue found within the spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It is composed of hematopoietic ce ...

and

organ transplantation Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ (anatomy), organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organ ...

at University of Strasbourg Hospitals. She was named director of the CRTS Strasbourg in 1976. From 1978 to 1986, Mayer relocated the Plasma Fractionation Center to

Lingolsheim Lingolsheim () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The town lies near Strasbourg. Geography Lingolsheim is situated southwest of Strasbourg, being a principal suburb between the city centre and Stras ...

Partial Bibliography

* Albert, Anne ; Bellocq, Jean-Pierre ; Bergerat, Jean-Pierre ; Falkenrodt, Annie ; Lang, Jean-Marie ; Levy, Salomon ; Mayer, Simone ; Ruch, Jean-Victor ; Tongio, Marie-Marthe ; Francoise Uettwiller, et al. « Membrane markers, karyotypic abnormalities, ultrastructure and functional properties of lymphocytes in a case of ‘D-cell’ chronic lymphatic leukemia » ''Leukemia Research'' 1984;8(2):223-237 * Aleksijevic, Alexandre ; Falkenrodt, Annie ; Lang, Jean-Marie ; Mayer, Simone ; Oberling, Francis. « Immunomodulation with diethyldithiocarbamate in patients with aids-related complex » ''Lancet'' 1985;326(8463):1066 * Aleksijevic, Alexandre ; Cremel, Gérard ; Falkenrodt, Annie ; Giron, Cathy ; Hubert, Pierre ; Lang, Jean-Marie ; Mayer, Simone ; Mutet, Christine ; Oberling, Francis ; Waksman, Albert. « Decreased membrane “fluidity” of T lymphocytes from untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease » ''Leukemia Research'' 1986;10(12):1477-84 * Cazenave, Jean-Pierre ; Fabre, Michel ; Garaud, Jean-Claude ; Hanau, Daniel ; Mayer, Simone ; Pauly, Gilles ; Schmitt, Didier A. ; Tongio, Marie-Marthe. « Human Epidermal Langerhans Cells Cointernalize by Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis "Nonclassical" Major Histocompatibility Complex Class Molecules (T6 Antigens) and Class II Molecules (HLA-DR Antigens) » ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' 1987;84(9):2901–5. * Gex, Madeleine ; Mayer, Georges et Mayer Simone, ''Transfusion sanguine''. Paris : Librairie Maloine, 1958 * Hauptmann, Georges ; Mayer, Georges ; Mayer, Simone et Waitz, Robert, ''Hématologie : D.C.E.M. 1''. Cours polycopiés. Strasbourg : Amicale des étudiants en médecine, 1974

References

1920 births 2006 deaths French hematologists {{France-med-bio-stub