Heritage Snapshot: Part 185

Brian S. Bull, MD, was Dean of Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs of Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center from 1994 to 2002; and Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology, Loma Linda University School of Medicine from 1973 to 2014. After graduation from the last class of the Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists (before it became Loma Linda University in 1961), Dr. Bull completed residencies at Yale University and the National Institutes of Health, where he quickly established himself as an outstanding researcher. At NIH he created the first working method to automate blood platelet counting; his method replaced the tedious manual counting method and substantially facilitated the rapid advances made in the chemotherapy and cure of childhood leukemia in the early to mid-1960s. Although he had multiple career opportunities, Dr. Bull elected to return to his alma mater, Loma Linda University, where—as educator, administrator, scientist, inventor, and philanthropist—he has rendered service that has impacted the lives of hundreds of medical students as well as countless patients globally. At age 35, Dr. Bull became chair of the Department of Pathology, and developed an excellent program both in research and education. Because of responsible stewardship, monies were set aside, which have grown to a multimillion-dollar endowment for the teaching responsibilities of the Department of Pathology. This, in turn has decreased the cost of medical school tuition by between $2,000 and $3,000 per student each year. Dr. Bull, who has an appreciation for procedures, policies, and bylaws, has played a definitive role in the design of the organizational structures that have undergirded and guided Loma Linda University for more than a quarter century. His multifaceted abilities distinguished him as a clear choice for dean of the School of Medicine in 1994. Dr. Bull has been a very active, successful, and internationally renowned researcher. Among his significant contributions is the invention of procedures that significantly reduce the amount of blood required for laboratory testing of premature infants. His automation of blood analyses has led to the development of equipment and testing used worldwide. He is the author of more than 200 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. For 10 years he was editor-in-chief of the prestigious international journal, Blood Cells. One of the ways the scientific community's acceptance of research projects can be measured is by the number of citations a research paper receives from other scientists in the same discipline. Every time another scientist refers to a particular paper in support of his own work, the citation is recorded by organizations such as the Science Citation Index (SCI). SCI thus identified the papers that stood out in a particular field. Eventually, if a paper was cited often enough over a 10 to 20-year period, it was designated a Citation Classic. Dr. Bull’s 1965 paper reporting the automated method of platelet counting was quoted so frequently by other researchers that it became a Citation Classic in the discipline of hematology. Three years later, in 1968, Dr. Bull, together with M. L. Rubenberg, MD, J. V. Dacie, MD (later Sir John Dacie), and M. C. Brain, MD, wrote a paper entitled "Microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia: mechanisms of red-cell fragmentation: in vitro studies." This paper describes how red cells fragment during clotting. With the use of a circulatory model Dr. Bull captured the instant of red-cell fragmentation on film. The paper's popularity may be due in part to its very graphic pictures of red-cell destruction. This paper became a Citation Classic in February 1986. Dr. Bull, a committed Christian physician, has balanced the interactions of family, church, University administration, research, and clinical work. At the same time, he initiated and supported the Pine Springs Ranch Endowment Fund, enabling medical students to attend the annual student-faculty retreat without charge; founded the Centennial Tuition Endowment Fund, which when completed will lower tuition costs; and designed and paid for the shade structure under which the University enjoys outdoor commencement events. In recognition of his commitment and contributions to this academic community, as well as his generous utilization of professional and personal resources to forward the institution’s historic mission, Loma Linda University presented to him the DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY SERVICE AWARD in 2004.