Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  Hester, Jeane Porter

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

Browse By Topic

Women

Explore

People
Business
Professions
Women

Learn More

Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 18 October 1987.

"Jeane Porter Hester," Vertical File, Oklahoma Room, Oklahoma Department of Libraries, Oklahoma City.

Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Kelly Brown, “Hester, Jeane Porter,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=HE019.

Published January 15, 2010
Last updated August 19, 2019

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.