NIH Remembers Lucas Sant

NIH mourns the loss of Dr. Lucas Sant, 57, whose son Caesar has been a research participant at NIH. Lucas died from a severe case of pneumonia on Jan. 2.

Sant, who was a neuroscientist and behavior educator at Wake Forest University, had put his career on hold when his son Caesar began having serious strokes as a young child, an effect of sickle cell disease (SCD). He remained at his son’s side as Caesar relearned how to walk and talk, and he continued to devote himself full time to Caesar’s care over the past decade while tirelessly advocating to find him a cure.

The journey led the family to NIH, where investigators from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute performed a sibling-matched bone marrow transplant in 2021 that cured Caesar of SCD. Lucas continued accompanying Caesar to the Clinical Center (CC) for follow-up appointments and to cheer him on as he played violin in annual Thanksgiving concerts in the CC atrium.  

Most recently, Sant wrote a book about his son’s journey, which was released in October.

Within the neuroscience field, Sant conducted research in electrophysiology at multiple universities. He was particularly interested in understanding and treating neurodegenerative disorders and in the potential of neuro-prosthetics. He held a Ph.D. in pathophysiology from the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

Sant is survived by his wife Aline and children Caesar, age 16; Maria-Anita, 14; and Helen, 10.

For more information on the Sant family, see this 2022 story from the NIH Record: go.nih.gov/U5azBfF and Caesar’s website: bit.ly/4hhiGXg.