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Fantus, Bernard M., Dr.

Founder of the first blood bank.
Born September 1, 1874, Budapest, Hungary; died April 14, 1940, Oak Park, Illinois.
Buried in Forest Park.

Dr. Bernard Fantus received his M. D. degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1899. His primary interest was the study of therapeutics, the branch of medicine which deals with the application of remedies to diseases, and he both taught and wrote extensively on die subject. From 1934 until his death in 1940, he was director of therapeutics at Cook County Hospital.

His most lasting achievement was the establishment of the first blood bank at Cook County Hospital in 1937. Prior to that time, the use of transfusions for emergency surgeries was limited because blood could not be stored, and transfusions required the immediate availability of the donor. Dr. Fantus' blood bank had a profound effect on major and trauma surgeries. Much of the major surgery performed today would be impossible if blood donors were required to wait at the operating room door. From its inception, the Cook County Hospital blood bank depended on volunteer donors, a concept still used today by most blood bank recruitment programs.