Adelaide's Michael Lill a dedicated leader in marrow transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
Michael Lill and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where he directed the blood marrow transplant centre for 20 years.
Image courtesy Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Michael Lill was listed as one of the “Best doctors in America,” and one of the “Best cancer doctors in America” from 2005. Adelaide-born Lill, the son of Rosey and former Norwood footballer and South Australian state cricketer John, had his family's strength in football and cricket and later martial arts where he earned black belts in three disciplines.
He excelled at Mitcham Primary School before going on to Melbourne’s Scotch College and the medical school at the University of Western Australia where he met his future wife, Gay Crooks, also a doctor.
Michael Lill trained in haematology oncology before the couple moved to California where he completed his training in the University of California Los Angeles and his wife became a research physician.
In 1997, Lill joined the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles to direct its new blood marrow transplant centre where he stayed for 20 years. He also became professor of medicine at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Lill’s research and clinical interests focused on bone marrow, peripheral blood and cord blood stem cell transplantation, leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes.
He was known for developing a program in bloodless transplantation for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Lill transplanted more than 2,000 patients, with deep commitment to them, over his career, He served on several national transplant related committees and held a long-standing interest in the ethical and philosophical aspects of religion and its intersection with medical practice.
He had many roles in the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT). Lill died of cancer in 2018. FACT’s chief executive officer Linda Miller reflected: “A soft-spoken gentle man, Michael was a philosopher and quintessential writer. His poignant blog provided everyone with insight to a more introspective side, reflective of his focus on the positive aspects of those things that brought him joy – his wife, family, dog, garden, and oh yes, wine.”
