Isaac Djerassi, 86, physician who advanced cancer therapy

Isaac Djerassi, 86, a medical researcher and clinician, died Saturday, Nov. 12, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital of complications after surgery.

Dr. Djerassi, who worked in the fields of hematology and oncology, played a key role in developing centrifuge and filtration techniques for platelet and white-cell transfusions to support aggressive cancer chemotherapy.

He was born in Bulgaria and attended a Catholic French college there but was sent to a transit camp by the Nazis in 1943. The Bulgarian government refused to permit the deportation of Bulgarian Jews, and by 1944, Dr. Djerassi returned to Sofia and entered medical school.

After Israel won independence in 1948, he immigrated there and graduated from the first medical school class of Hebrew University in 1951.

In 1954, Dr. Djerassi came to America at the invitation of Sidney Farber, the doctor widely considered the father of modern chemotherapy. Dr. Djerassi accepted a Harvard fellowship for training in laboratory research and pediatric investigative medicine at the Children's Hospital of Boston's Jimmy Fund center.

In the early 1960s, Dr. Djerassi worked at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he served as director of its blood bank.

In 1969, Dr. Djerassi began treating adult patients at Misericordia and Fitzgerald Mercy Hospitals, where he developed the concept of a cancer "mini-center" that combined chemotherapy and the latest support care.

In a 1995 article, The Inquirer's Clark DeLeon wrote that Dr. Djerassi pioneered research in platelet transfusions and high-dose methotrexate chemotherapy and treated cancer patients "other doctors had given up for dead." DeLeon wrote that Dr. Djerassi's treatment helped extend many patients' lives.

In that article, DeLeon quoted Dr. Djerassi as saying: "I use anything that works. Anything that can help my patients. I have no prejudices, nothing. Multi-modality, from all possible directions. I don't care who invented it."

Dr. Djerassi's method of using high-dose methotrexate enabled him to be successful in treating cancer patients who had very little hope, said his daughter, Ady Djerassi, also a doctor.

At the conclusion of the 1995 article, Dr. Djerassi spoke philosophically about his career in medicine.

"I'm not a very religious person, but there is something in the Jewish faith called tikun olam. It means 'fix the world.' That is the reason a person is put on Earth. I believe in that. I have to fight to fix the world."

In addition to his daughter, Dr. Djerassi is survived by his wife of 57 years, Tika; a son, Ramy, a Common Pleas Court judge; five grandchildren; and a sister.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks, 6410 N. Broad St. Interment will be in Mikveh Israel Cemetery, 11th and Federal Streets, South Philadelphia.