Figure 1.
Figure 1. Thomas Hale Ham (1905–1987). In 1939, while working in the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, Harvard Medical Service, Boston City Hospital, Ham reported evidence that complement mediates the abnormal lysis of PNH erythrocytes in acidified serum.2,15 These landmark studies influenced research in the field for the next 50 year, and led to development of a specific diagnostic test for PNH (the acidified serum lysis test or the Ham Test) that was the standard clinical assay until it was supplanted by flow cytometry in the early to mid-1990s. Fortuitously, Ham was on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University at the same time as Louis Pillemer, who discovered the alternative pathway of complement in the 1950s. Colleagues of Ham’s at Case collaborated with Pillemer to demonstrate that hemolysis of PNH erythrocytes in acidified serum is mediated by the alternative pathway. Some of this work was presented at the 1st Organizational Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in 1957. Dr. Ham became the 7th President of the American Society of Hematology.
 Reproduced from Parker CJ. Historical aspects of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria: ‘defining the disease’. Br J Haematol. 2002;117:3–22 by copyright permission of Blackwell Science Ltd.

Thomas Hale Ham (1905–1987). In 1939, while working in the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, Harvard Medical Service, Boston City Hospital, Ham reported evidence that complement mediates the abnormal lysis of PNH erythrocytes in acidified serum.2,15 These landmark studies influenced research in the field for the next 50 year, and led to development of a specific diagnostic test for PNH (the acidified serum lysis test or the Ham Test) that was the standard clinical assay until it was supplanted by flow cytometry in the early to mid-1990s. Fortuitously, Ham was on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University at the same time as Louis Pillemer, who discovered the alternative pathway of complement in the 1950s. Colleagues of Ham’s at Case collaborated with Pillemer to demonstrate that hemolysis of PNH erythrocytes in acidified serum is mediated by the alternative pathway. Some of this work was presented at the 1st Organizational Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in 1957. Dr. Ham became the 7th President of the American Society of Hematology.
 Reproduced from

Parker CJ. Historical aspects of paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria: ‘defining the disease’. Br J Haematol. 2002;117:3–22
by copyright permission of Blackwell Science Ltd.

Close Modal
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

or Create an Account

Close Modal
Close Modal