Geno Saccommano

[7pe@ornl.gov (Phil V. Egidi)]

Sorry to inform the list that Dr. Geno Saccommano died on Saturday at age
84 in Grand Junction, Colorado.  He worked with the Native American uranium
miners, and was very active in studying radon as a carcinogen.  His funeral
will be tommorrow (Wed.) in Grand Junction.
An excerpt from his obit in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinal follows:

"...Saccomanno graduated from St. Louis University armed
  with a medical degree and a vision. Saccomanno, who first came on board
at St. Mary's Hospital in 1948, devoted his entire career to the research
and education of lung cancer. 

In October of 1948, he established the only pathology service between
              Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah. The first laboratory at St.
Mary's Hospital was on the back porch of the old hospital building located
in the 1100 block of Colorado Avenue. 

Today, St. Mary's Hospital is a major medical hub providing services to
residents in western Colorado and surrounding states, including Utah, New
Mexico and Wyoming. 

Saccomanno first happened upon Grand Junction when the uranium boom
            was just beginning. He researched in St. Louis using sputum
samples to detect lung cancer while reading up on German research involving
uranium miners and lung cancer. 

Shortly after his arrival in Grand Junction, Saccomanno contacted Dr.
               Duncan Holliday of the U.S. Department of Health in Salt
Lake City who
had also begun researching cancer in uranium miners. 

That was the starting point for Saccomanno who spent decades
researching the connection. His research was a combination of brilliance
and common sense. 

Early on, he was looking for a way to make sputum samples easier to
           look at through a microscope. 

As he was driving to work, he started thinking about what he could do to
get sputum to a consistency that would stay on the slide. 

He went back home, kidnapped his wife's blender and brought it back to the
hospital to blend the sputum. The rest is medical history. 

For over four decades, Saccomanno and his team of researchers tested
              more than 17,700 uranium miners in the Four Corners area,
tracking                      personal data, smoking habits, work history
and medical records. 

The archived biological and statistical data make up what is believed to be
the largest study of its kind in the United States. The Justice Department
estimates that 80 percent of all necessary records needed to confirm
eligibility on underground uranium miners for compensation under the
Radiation Exposure Act are in these archives at St. Mary's Hospital. 

In 1986, eight Japanese and American lung cancer researchers met at St.
                 Mary's Hospital to review lung cancer cases on uranium
miners exposed                      to long-term, low-dose alpha radiation
as opposed to victims of the                      bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki who developed lung cancer as the                      result of
short-term, high-dose levels of gamma and neutron radiation. 

The study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, was conducted at
                 St. Mary's Hospital because of Saccomanno's expertise and
the vast                      amount of research material he accumulated on
uranium miners over the                      years. The following year, the
study was moved to Hiroshima to analyze                      lung cancer
among atomic bomb survivors. 

But Saccomanno's sputum cytology test would fall victim to the medical
                scrap heap in the 1980s after studies on sputum cytology at
the Mayo                      Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
and Memorial Sloan-Kettring                      failed to duplicate the
results Saccomanno and his cohorts logged over the                      years. 

Although not recognized by the National Institute of Health and the
             National Cancer Institute, Saccomanno's sputum cytology method
is used                      in Grand Junction and in Japan as a standard
screening test for lung                      cancer. 

Saccomanno published more than 80 research papers in addition to a
            textbook, "Diagnostic Pulmonary Cytology." He acted as a
consultant on                      lung cancer research and radiation for
the Japanese government, in Europe                      and Mexico, as well
as the United States. 

Saccomanno is also credited for inventing medical instruments, including
                  a brush to take cervical samples for Pap smears, a tube
for taking                      samples from lungs and a fixture that can
be adapted to a microscope to                      mark samples. 

Saccomanno was honored by the U.S. Department of Energy in 1993 with
              its highest award for exceptional public service. He was also
the recipient of the Bonfils-Staton Foundation Science Award, the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, the
Certificate of Service Award from the Colorado Medical Society, the James
J. Waring Award for Scientific Excellence from the American Lung
Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Mankind
from the Human Services Council of Mesa County among others. 

Saccomanno was a member of the American Medical Association,
      Colorado Medical Society, Mesa County Medical Society, Phi Sigma and
                    Sigma Xi National Research Society. 

He is survived by his wife Virginia and daughters Carol Murphy, Linda
               Siedow and Lenna Watson."

Phil Egidi
ORNL/GJ
7pe@ornl.gov
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