Dr. Rajendra G. Desai M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Desai was born in Gujerat, India. He obtained a Bachelors of Science from Fergusson College in Poona and his Medical degree (M.D.) from Grant Medical College and Bombay University. His postgraduate training was completed at Tata Cancer Hospital in Bombay, in 1952. He was
awarded a Fulbright fellowship for 3 years in order to pursue specialized training in Hematology under the guidance of Dr. William Dameshek at the New England Medical Center, Boston. During that time, he also obtained a Ph.D. in Biology, from Boston University, his research dissertation being
on "Experimental Purpura." Dr. Desai was then awarded a Damon Runyon Fellowship for Cancer Research and a Burroughs-Wellcome World Travel Award to briefly return to India and collect clinical material for his pioneering work on "Myleran induced Pigmentation in Chronic Granulocytic
Leukemia." In his following 40 years in the USA, he received several travel grants to lecture nationally as well as internationally on his research work.
While at Stanford University, he was awarded the Anna Fuller Fund fellowship to travel to
Japan to investigate the cause of the high incidence of stomach cancer in the Japanese.

In his academic life, he started as a research fellow and ultimately became the Head of the
Department of Hematology/Oncology. While in Orange County (south of Los Angeles), he
pioneered the start of several comprehensive cancer care facilities in the 1970's. He was
also elected President of the American Cancer Society, Orange County branch as well as
being as being the Founding President of the Southern California Association of Indian
Physicians. He was also instrumental in the start of Oncology Nurses Association in
Orange County.

Dr. Desai has educated medical students, doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. He has contributed several original research papers in basic science and clinical research to the medical literature. He was elected to the membership of the American Association of Cancer Research and is
also a member of many national and international societies of Hematology, Oncology and Transfusion Medicine. As a community service, he produced two videos for cancer patients and their families. These videos on coping with cancer and supportive care for cancer patients have served as excellent
teaching tools for physicians and patients alike. They are available in most cancer center libraries.

Following his recent semi-retirement from both academic and private practice, he has continued
research and lecture tours around the world. and has been an active participant and Chairperson in
many Hematology and Oncology congresses. Dr. Desai has lectured in China, Tibet, Nepal, India,
and throughout southeast Asia. He advises these countries by giving them state of the art knowledge
in Transfusion Medicine. As a humanitarian effort, he has helped to successfully establish voluntary
central blood banking facilities in some of these nations. He continues to pursue several clinical
epidemlological research projects on malaria, cancer, and hematology, publishing or presenting the
findings internationally. He was recognized as a Distinguished Visiting professor in Bangalore, India
and as a Visiting Scientist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris where he did cooperative research on
Intravenous Immunoglobulin with French Immunologists at the Hospital Broussais. 

"The World According to Raj"
"Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, hapiness and prosperity to every person you meet. o make
all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the best,
to work for the best and expect only the best. To be just as entusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes
of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet
a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger,
too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble."
-Christian Larsen