William N. Drohan (1946 – ) was an American microbiologist and academic known for his research in the field of

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

Education

Drohan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in bacteriology from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in medical microbiology and immunology from

UCLA School of Medicine The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of Califor ...

Career

He was known for his commitment to improving blood safety, his work in transgenic proteins to treat hemophilia and other blood-related disorders, as well as contributions in investigating

mad cow disease Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and always fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of th ...

in the blood supply. His career included positions with the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

, the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

, and private companies that treated blood-borne disorders, most recently as chief scientific officer at Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, and previously president and subsequently chief scientific officer of Clearant. He also served as a professor in the Graduate Program of the Department of Genetics at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

and formerly as an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. He served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, and was a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for Blood Products at

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The institute is centered at the Forest Glen Annex, in the Forest Glen Park part of the u ...

and chairman for the Panel on Biotechnology of the National Research Council.

Death

Drohan died of lung cancer at his home in

Germantown, Maryland Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 91,249 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous community in Maryland, after Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland, Col ...

after a four-year illness. Drohan had previously lived in

Springfield, Virginia Springfield is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 31,339 as of the 20 ...

and

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drohan, William N. 1946 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American educators American microbiologists George Washington University faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni People from Germantown, Maryland People from Springfield, Virginia People from Santa Monica, California Deaths from lung cancer in Maryland American immunologists David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA alumni Scientists from Virginia