Robert A. Good

Robert Alan Good NAM, NAS, AAAS (May 21, 1922 – June 13, 2003) was an American physician who performed the first successful human bone marrow transplant between persons who were not identical twins. He is regarded as a founder of modern immunology.

Early life and education Good was born in Crosby, Minnesota, the second son of Ethel (née Whitcomb) and Roy Homer Good, who worked as educators. He attended the University of Minnesota and its medical school, receiving a B.A. degree in 1944, and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in 1947. He was the first student to undertake a combined M.D.-Ph.D. curriculum at Minnesota.

While an undergraduate, he developed a polio-like illness that left him partially paralyzed. His mother pushed his wheelchair into his medical school classrooms. He eventually recovered from the illness, but retained a pronounced limp for the remainder of his life. In 1969, he was appointed as Regent's Professor, one of the highest recognitions of the University of Minnesota.

Among his accomplishments, in 1962, he documented the importance of the thymus gland, in 1965 he documented the important role of the tonsils in developing the immune defense systems of mammals including humans, and in 1968 he led the team that performed the first successful human bone marrow transplant between persons who were not identical twins. The patient who received the transplant was a 5-month-old boy with a profound immune deficiency that had earlier led to the deaths of eleven male members of his extended family. The boy received bone marrow transplanted from his 8-year-old sister. The transplant was successful and the boy grew up to become a healthy adult. the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a charter member of the Institute of Medicine. 1970 Gairdner Foundation International Award. 1972 American College of Physicians Award 1975 Cancer Research Institute William B. Coley Award 1987 John Howland Award