It was as a medical intern in a Warsaw general pediatric ward where Dr. Anna Janowska-Wieczorek first became interested in hematology. She came across a unique case of thrombocytopenia, or reduced platelet count, and was encouraged by the staff to write up the case.

It became her first publication and encouraged her to specialize in hematology. It didn't hurt, says Janowska-Wieczorek, that hematology enjoyed a high reputation in Poland as a medical discipline because of a number of earlier pioneering discoveries.

"I realized that this specialty in particular offered plenty of opportunities for basic research and clinical studies," she said.

The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry's Janowska-Wieczorek turned that decision into a distinguished career, whose work has had a major impact on the field of stem cell transplantation. The Killam Annual Professorship recipient is a world leader on peripheral blood stem cell mobilization, a process now widely exploited for clinical hematopoietic blood making stem cell transplantation.

Janowska-Wieczorek recognized the potential of her work in a clinical application and was an early advocate for bone marrow transplantation locally. That foresight resulted in the Edmonton Stem Cell Laboratory, a program initially started in the late 1980s as an experimental endeavour in her research lab. Funded by the Canadian Red Cross Services (CRCS), which later became the Canadian Blood Service, Janowska-Wieczorek and the U of A's Dr. Robert Turner introduced stem cell collections and transplants in Edmonton. In fact, they were among the first in the country to introduce this therapy.

Aside from developing the program that was coordinated between the CRCS and the Cross Cancer Institute, Janowska-Wieczorek was responsible for all clinical phases of the initiative including mobilization, collection, processing and thawing of the stem cells. And later on, she helped create the International Society for Hematotherapy and Graft Engineering (ISHAGE), a group dedicated to developing guidelines for quality and safety issues in the practice.

Janowska-Wieczorek's vision and leadership has impacted cancer therapy in Edmonton and the surrounding area, says Dr. Carol Cass, director of the Cross Cancer Institute and Canada Research Chair in Oncology.

"Dr. Janowska supervised over 1000 stem cell collections that were subsequently used in over 350 successful stem cell transplants in cancer patients," explained Cass.

"She is credited with the development of the Edmonton Stem Cell Program and she also brought recognition to the program, to the Cross Cancer Institute, Canadian Blood Services and the university."

After the lab became fully operational in 2001, the founder devoted more of her energy to other areas of stem cell research, the area that she still finds just as exciting as when she first started.

"The emerging field of stem cells in which I am working holds a lot of promise and has come to the forefront of research in the past few years," she said.

"And the potential for using stem cells to treat other than haematological diseases has become a major focus of research and has caught the imagination of the popular media."

More than 30 years after that first paper sparked her interest in hematology, Janowska-Wieczorek continues to publish at a staggering rate, which she thinks is one reason she has far more applications from students than she can support. And she's grateful for achieving as much as she had, given the challenges of finding research funding.

"As a woman and a foreign graduate, I am proud of still managing to survive in a career in which research funding is very competitive and never guaranteed."

While she continues to immerse herself in the rapidly developing field of stem cell research, she is pleased to add her name to the list of Killam recipients.

"This represents a high honour, and recognizes years of effort as well as perhaps, some small achievement, in my chosen field."