Prof. LU Daopei, a towering figure in Chinese haematology, died on 2 April, 2025, age 93 years. LU, an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, transformed the field of haematopoietic cell transplants in China and abroad.

Prof. LU was born in October in 1931, 18 years before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. It was a time of great turmoil but he was a dedicated student and attended Tongji Medical College, now part of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. In 1955 he transferred to Peking University People’s Hospital where he spent his career until retirement at age 80. He was also affiliated with Fudan Univ. in Shanghai. Prof. Lu held many important roles including Vice President and Chair of the Hematology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and Director of the Peking University Institute of Hematology.

LU was a close family friend and colleague. We first met in the early 1970s when he arrived, unannounced, at Prof. John Goldman’s office at Hammersmith Hospital in London. He introduced himself, then said: “Please tell me what you are doing in bone marrow transplants“. Thus began a 50 year friendship.

Prof. LU did the 1st haematopoietic cell transplant in Asia in 1964. It was between genetically-identical twins. The recipient is alive and well 60 years later. Over the ensuing years Prof. LU made many groundbreaking advances in transplants in China including the 1st HLA-haplotype-mismatched transplant in 1991. This was incredibly important given China’s then 1 child policy leaving people with leukaemia with no potential sibling donor. Under his leadership China’s transplant outcomes reached world-class levels.

LU’s innovations extended beyond transplants. He pioneered the use of oral arsenic sulfide in acute promyelocytic leukemia. He told me when he was a child he was given a spoonful of arsenic every morning before school. This was a common practice worldwide. Arsenic causes a rosy complexion and was a common ingredient in cosmetics globally. This use was only banned in the US following the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act which established the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Prof. LU founded the China Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, the China Marrow Donor Program and the 1st Chinese Cord Blood Bank Registry. In 1981 he established the Peking University Institute of Hematology, the Beijing Daopei Hospital in 2001, the China Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation Cooperative Group and the LU Daopei Medical Group where he served as Medical Director. In 1992, LU authored Leukemia Therapeutics, China’s first comprehensive textbook on leukaemia therapy.

Prof. LU’s achievements earned him many accolades including the State Science and Technology Progress Award (1985), Chinese Medical Association Technology Progress Award (2006), Beijing Science and Technology Progress Award (2006), the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation Science and Technology Progress Award (1997), the Chen Jiageng Science Award (1997) and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association Hematologic Oncology (2016) and the Chinese Hematology Association (2020). In 2016, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) honored him with the Distinguished Service Award.

Prof. LU had many other talents. He was a gourmet, passionate about food, Chinese (there are 8 recognized cuisines) and many others. He enjoyed singing in Mandarin and English including arias from the Peking Opera. He played the violin and excelled in calligraphy wielding the brush with remarkable mastery. (I have his extraordinary jade brush jar on my desk.) Prof. LU was a scholar who wrote poetry in his rare free time. He could recite verses from the Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther; Goethe) by heart in German and English. Try that sometime. When Prof. James Armitage’s teenage son complained over dinner over having to memorize 250 years of American history, Prof. LU remarked he had to memorize 5000 years of Chinese history.

LU was a dedicated mentor shaping generations of Chinese physicians, Academicians, PhDs and postdoctoral researchers who carry forward his commitment to excellence. His relentless pursuit of innovation and compassionate care touched and saved countless lives.

Above all, Prof. Lu was a kind, gentle man, a gentleman. He was dedicated to his family who continue in his tradition of scholarship and public service. His daughter, Dr. LU Peihua (Peggy), a hematologist/oncologist, trained with Profs. James Armitage in Nebraska and Stanley Schrier and Robert Negrin at Stanford. She is now medical president of the LU Daopei Medical Group overseeing four hematology-specialized hospitals. His granddaughter, Dr. Sophia WANG, is a physician at Stanford. His son Lu Wenzhao (Daniel) manages the LU Daopei Medical Group. Prof. LU is survived by four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Prof. LU’s passing is a great loss to many but his spirit endures in the lives he saved, the minds he inspired and the advances he pioneered. We miss him.