Page 2 - Dad's St Jude Projecy

Our Early Memories of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

By Dr. Herb Ennis

St Jude Children’s Research Hospital is an experiment of a
successful research institution that was able to do significant
research in both scientific and practical work. It was able to bridge
the combination of basic and practical research.

My wife Judith and I were among the first researchers that joined
the hospital in 1964. The hospital at that time consisted of very few
members. Alan Granoff was head of Virology and my boss. It is not
possible to imagine the growth of the hospital. There were few staff
members. I remember among the staff member, Bruce Sells and his

wife Bernice. It was a very exciting time. We all interacted with each
other in science and social activity. My wife Judith and I were part
of a growing staff. Judith and I were recently thinking about the
early group that were present in the beginning, so we decided to

give some thought to our early activities in those days. The
scientific staff was young and small. They came from all over the
world. They seemed to be a very compatible group. The original
staff was just a small portion of the staff today. The building was a
unique star structure. Since the staff was small we were able to

interact with each other. This was wonderful because the spouses
and the staff were able to interact socially and professionally.

Dr. Pinkel, Director, of the Hospital led an energetic team of
physicians and scientists . What I liked about the hospital was the
fact that we were allowed to work on scientific projects and were

able to interact with each other. This was really terrific because we
were able to get ideas from each other. And fresh ideas were
encouraged. The goal of the hospital was to cure children’s cancers
and when he came to head the hospital he set out to fulfill his

dream. He felt that children should not die at the beginning of their
lives and he set out to do this. Under his direction the hospital
developed new treatments for leukemia in children. Furthermore, all
treatments were free.