Sixty years of blood transfusion: a memoir

Paul Schmidt was born in 1925 into the Greatest Generation. Events during military service decided him on the study of medicine. Early research training in red cell preservation that continued during his medical studies opened a 20-year career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Beginning in 1954 at the Blood Bank of the NIH Clinical Center, he had exposure to the pioneers who had translated transfusion's wartime beginnings into civilian applications. Work inside the unique NIH clinical research atmosphere together with many of his students provided a fertile field for the growth of what has become transfusion medicine. Topics described range from early studies on platelets and on hepatitis to the background in Washington health politics leading to the National Blood Policy. National and global organizational activity and a second career in community blood service added to his 65 years of experience. The story as transfusion history is presented as a template for future progress.