Sanford B. Krantz Biographical File

Sanford Krantz, MD, was an internationally recognized authority on hematology and erythropoietin and professor of Medicine, Emeritus at Vanderbilt School of Medicine. He died April 13 at his home. He was 89.

Born Feb. 6, 1934, in Chicago, Dr. Krantz received his bachelor’s degree and medical degree from the University of Chicago and began his professional career at the University of Chicago Hospitals, followed by a fellowship with the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and two years at the National Institutes of Health.

He joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 1970 as an associate professor and chief of the hematology section at the Veterans Administration Hospital. He devoted the last 33 years of his career as chief of Hematology at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and 24 years as director of the Hematology Section at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Krantz has more than 200 publications, was a member of many professional societies, and received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. He was recognized by election into The American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians and was presented in 1998 with the Founders Medical Award by the Southern Society of Clinical Investigation.

In addition to successfully competing for an NIH R01 grant for 31 years, a VA Merit Review Research Grant continuously for 33 years, and an NIH Training Grant for over 25 years, Dr. Krantz was awarded an Ortho-Biotech Corporation Research Hematology Fellowship which was used to support the training of young physicians specializing in hematology.

Among his research accomplishments are the discovery of pathogenesis of pure red cell aplasia as an autoimmune disease with treatment with immunosuppressive drugs, the successful trials of erythropoietin in renal disease and the anemia of chronic disease, rheumatoid arthritis. The description of the anemia of chronic disease as an immune disease due to reaction to foreign proteins with the liberation of inhibitory cytokines is well recognized.

He died April 13, 2023 at his home in Nashville, TN. He was 89.

Biography from VUMC News April 18, 2023

https://news.vumc.org/2023/04/18/vanderbilt-mourns-loss-of-former-hematology-leader-krantz/