Innovation

Blood, sweat and tears

Published on August 31, 2016

One researcher altered the course of public health and the lives of people who turned to UNC to survive.

One researcher altered the course of public health and the lives of people who turned to UNC to survive.

In 1947, UNC clinical pathologist and researcher Kenneth Brinkhous received a phone call from a lawyer in New York that would change his life—and the world.

The lawyer’s two purebred chocolate Irish setters were giving birth to puppies with hemophilia. The shaggy haired dogs soon made their way to UNC and provided Brinkhous and his team with subjects that led to the creation of partial thromboplastin time (PTT) test—today’s standard tool for diagnosing bleeding disorders in humans.

Brinkhous put UNC on the map for hemophilia research. And when many hemophilia patients contracted HIV, researchers at Carolina became world experts on HIV. Today, because of Brinkhous’ research, Carolina researchers continue to work to improve the lives of people with hemophilia and HIV.

Read the complete Carolina Story from Endeavors…Opens in new window

 

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