Immunologist Janeway Dead at 60

April 17, 2003

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Dr. Charles Janeway Jr., an immunologist whose research at Yale University School of Medicine led to new understanding about the immune system, has died. He was 60.

Janeway died Saturday from cancer, Yale University said.

His research focused on innate immunity, or the body's first natural defenses against infection.

Janeway also studied T cells and how they react with pathogens to ward off disease.

"Charlie's contributions to immunobiology have been profound," said Dr. David Kessler, dean of Yale medical school. "Charlie Janeway will be remembered as a towering intellect and leading citizen of this medical school and the university. We shall all miss him."

In 1988, Janeway helped found the Section of Immunobiology at the medical school.

He wrote over 300 papers and the textbook "Immunobiology: The Immune System in Health and Disease," now in its fifth printing.

Janeway was president of the American Association of Immunologists from 1997 to 1998.

Born in Weston, Mass., Janeway came from a medical family. His father was the physician-in-chief at Boston Children's Hospital, and his grandfather taught at Johns Hopkins University medical school.

Janeway got his bachelor's degree in chemistry and his medical degree from Harvard.

He did five years of immunology research at the National Institutes of Health and joined the Yale faculty in 1977.

Janeway is survived by his wife, H. Kim Bottomly, also a professor of immunobiology at Yale, three daughters and three sisters.

A public memorial service was being planned.

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