Pablo Rubinstein is a pioneer (during the 1980s) in freezing of

umbilical cord blood Cord blood (umbilical cord blood) is blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord after childbirth. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders su ...

or placental blood cells for the use for unrelated donors to treat diseases like

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

and genetic diseases such as

Tay–Sachs disease Tay–Sachs disease is a genetic disorder that results in the destruction of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The most common form is infantile Tay–Sachs disease, which becomes apparent around three to six months of age, with the baby ...

and sickle cell anemia. He pioneered and established an international cord blood banking system and has played a leading role in international cord blood transplantation.

Medical background

Earning his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

degree from the University of Chile in 1962, Rubinstein completed a surgical residency at Hospital Clínico José Joaquín Aguirre in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and completed a fellowship at M.I. Bassett Hospital at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He also finished an international fellowship at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He also taught as a professor at Universidad de Chile for four years.

History of cord blood transplants

Following the first sibling-donor cord blood transplant in 1988, the National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded a grant to Rubinstein to develop the world's first cord blood program at the

New York Blood Center The New York Blood Center (NYBC) is a community, nonprofit blood bank based in New York City. Established in 1964 by Dr. Aaron Kellner, NYBC supplies blood to approximately 200 hospitals in the Northeast United States. NYBC and its operating divi ...

, in order to establish the inventory of stem cell units necessary to provide unrelated, matched grafts for patients. In 1993, Joanne Kurtzberg, Duke University Medical Center, performed the first two successful unrelated donor cord blood transplants; one of which cured acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). As of 2006, more than 7,000 transplants from unrelated donors have been conducted on patients worldwide.

National Cord Blood Program

Rubinstein is co-founder and director, of th
National Cord Blood Program
at the

. Along with his co-founder, Cladd Stevens, he and the program have enabled the inventory of umbilical cord blood units from ethnically diverse donors to grow, enabling it to serve the needs of patients across the world.

Medical focus

Rubinstein specializes in

immunogenetics Immunogenetics or immungenetics is the branch of Medical Immunology and Medical Genetics that explores the relationship between the immune system and genetics. Autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, are complex genetic traits which result ...

, which encompasses the structure and function of genes that regulate immune responses, control the acceptance or rejection of tissue and organ transplants, and affect susceptibility to certain diseases. He began in as an investigator at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute at the NYBC, and serves as director of the Fred H. Allen Jr. Laboratory of Immunogenetics. Rubinstein is also an adjunct clinical professor at Columbia University and is the author of more than 200 research papers on immunogenetics, cord blood banking and transplantation.

Stem cell advocate

Rubinstein has testified to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

and House of Representatives on the importance of expanding funding

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...

research, and writes articles and papers on similar topics.Senate Hearing

References

External links

National Center for Biotechnology Information's Research on Cord Blood

''Redbook'', 12/2002

''NY Times'', November 26, 1998, by Denise Grady
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, Pablo Living people Chilean medical researchers Year of birth missing (living people)