The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

HESTER, JEANE PORTER (1929–2018).

An internationally recognized cancer physician and researcher, Jeane Porter Hester and her fraternal twin, June, were born June 15, 1929, to Covey and Bess Christian Porter in Big Spring, Texas. After attending public schools in Chickasha, Oklahoma, she matriculated at Oklahoma College for Women (now University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma) and graduated with a bachelor's degree in French in 1951. That year, she married Bob Hester. A son, Stephen, was born in 1953. From 1961 to 1963 she completed premedical requirements at Oklahoma City University. In 1963 she entered the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, graduating in 1967. Hester accepted a fellowship in oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1971 and continued there in many capacities, including assistant professor of medicine (1973–78), associate professor of medicine (1978–84), and full professor (1984–95). Upon retirement from Anderson, she established Haemeferesis Consultants in Houston, Texas.

Hester focused on therapies to improve the survival of cancer patients, and her work bridged the areas of biotechnology, clinical research, and patient care. A significant amount of her research involved hemapheresis, the harvesting of blood elements for therapeutic purposes. Hemapheresis is currently applied in the use of blood stem cells for bone marrow transplantation strategies.

Hester has produced more than 275 publications, is a member of numerous medical societies, and has served on several scientific journal editorial boards. She has been inducted into the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Texas Women's Hall of Fame (1984), and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame (1987). Hester died in Galveston, Texas, on December 24, 2018.

Kelly Brown