John R. Hartmann Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology/Hematology

Est. 1988

The John R. Hartmann Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology/Hematology was established in 1988 to enhance the University’s ability to attract, retain and support distinguished faculty in the field of pediatric oncology/hematology at Seattle Children’s.

The chair also pays tribute to the extraordinary career of Jack Hartmann, M.D. Dr. Hartmann was born in Everett, Wash. In 1941, he moved east and matriculated at Johns Hopkins. It was wartime, and his accelerated program took him through the University and Johns Hopkins Medical School in six years; he graduated with an M.D. in 1947 and was honored by both Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. Dr. Hartmann remained at Johns Hopkins on the famed Osler Medical Service for a year before transferring to Boston as a pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital. His training was interrupted in 1950–52 for military service; he was a captain at the Aero-Medical Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and in Japan.

Dr. Hartmann returned to Boston Children’s Hospital as a resident, and, in 1953, was chief resident in pediatrics. His pediatric training was followed by a hematology fellowship with Dr. Lewis K. Diamond. Afterward, Dr. Hartmann returned to UW Medicine as an American Cancer Society Fellow in hematology, working with another famous hematologist, Dr. Clement Finch.

While establishing programs to care for children with oncologic and hematologic conditions in the Northwest, Dr. Hartmann also became active on a national level. First, he became involved with the Children’s Cancer Study Group, a group of institutions which cooperated with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This group became independent of Sloan Kettering, and Dr. Hartmann was elected chairman in 1964. He organized the first data center and statistical center for conducting cooperative clinical trials.

In Seattle, Dr. Hartmann was indispensable to Bill Hutchinson in the founding of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (he worked on grant funding and faculty recruitment). He became the first director of the Hutchinson Center’s extramural research program. As an associate director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and as a member of the Cancer Center Review Committee of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Hartmann played an important role both locally and nationally in the life of the center. He passed away in May 1991.

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