Editor's Note: Dr. Charles Bernard Carpenter, a giant in Transplant Medicine and Immunology, died on September 30, 2011. Bernie, as he was affectionally known, was a Senior Physician in the Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
I got to know Bernie when I joined the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1998. Bernie was a true gentleman, a great mentor, an outstanding scientist, and a visionary leader. I would strongly recommend you to read the Milestones in Nephrology article published in JASN in 2001. Bernie discusses his early career at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital -- this was the time he worked with Dr. Joseph Murray (who later went on to receive a Nobel prize for his work on transplantation) and Renal Division Director and transplant pioneer Dr. John Merrill.
Dr. Joseph Bonventre, Director, Renal Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and President of the American Society of Nephrology, writes:
“Dr. Carpenter was a 1958 graduate of Harvard Medical School. Following his internship and residency in New York and a brief stint in the U.S. Navy, Dr. Carpenter returned to Boston in 1962 to be trained in nephrology by Dr. John P. Merrill at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.
Dr. Carpenter’s research was focused on studying the molecular targets for the immune response to transplanted tissues. Dr. Carpenter trained 60 postdoctoral fellows in his lab, many of whom are now leaders in academic nephrology.
During the course of his career at the Brigham he served at various times as the Director of the Tissue Typing Laboratory, the Interhospital Organ Bank, the Immunogenetics Laboratory, and as the Acting Director of the Renal Division (2001-2003). Dr. Carpenter was a founding member of the Transplantation Society, the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, and the American Society of Transplantation. Dr. Carpenter served as President of the latter two organizations. He was the 2004 recipient of the John P. Peters Award of the American Society of Nephrology and the 2005 recipient of the David Hume Award of the National Kidney Foundation.
We will all miss this giant of a man who was an extraordinary mentor and a pioneer and leader of Transplantation Nephrology for so many years”.
I am quoting extensively from Bernie's obituary in Bar Harbor Times and Soup:
"Charles Bernard Carpenter, MD, died on Sept. 30, 2011, at RiverWoods at Exeter in Exeter, N.H., after a valiant struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. A longtime resident in Weston, Mass., and Bar Harbor, he was born in Melrose, Mass., in 1933 and was predeceased by his parents, Seymour C. Carpenter and Pauline F. Carpenter.
Bernie was a 1955 graduate of Dartmouth College, a 1956 graduate of Dartmouth Medical School and Harvard Medical School, class of 1958, and he served as a medical officer in the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. His career spanned more than 44 years at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School as a pioneer in the development of clinical organ transplantation. He helped develop the new medical field of immunogenetics, which grew out of transplantation immunology research.
Bernie was a founding member of the Transplantation Society, the American Society of Nephrology, the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, and the American Society of Transplantation, serving as president of the latter two societies. As the author of more than 380 professional papers and chapters in medical texts, he led an extensive research program as director of the Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Transplantation at BWH, and mentored the careers of two generations of senior physicians and scientists.
In 1966, he received the first of what would be many awards during his distinguished career, including the Ten Outstanding Young Men of Greater Boston Award. In 2004, he was the recipient of the John C. Peters Award of the American Society of Nephrology, given to recognize “individuals who have made substantial research contributions to the discipline of nephrology.” In 2005 he received the David M. Hume Memorial Award of the National Kidney Foundation, which is the highest honor given by that organization to a scientist in the field of kidney and urologic diseases.
The Renal Division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital has created the Charles B. Carpenter Transplant Fellowship, to be awarded to a renal transplant fellow who will pursue advanced training in transplantation.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Sandra Davis Carpenter; his son, Bradford D. Carpenter and his wife, Ellen; his granddaughters, Michaela and Emma, all of Santa Monica, Calif.; and his son Scott C. Carpenter and his wife, Tatiana; his grandson, Andres; and granddaughter, Annette, all of Coconut Creek, Fla.
A memorial service will be held at the First Baptist Church in Newton Centre, Mass., on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Charles B. Carpenter Transplant Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115."
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