Stem cell research is physician's claim to fame

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Dr. George Geils Jr. works with bone-marrow transplant patients at Roper Hospital and is involved in a stem cell therapy trial for patients in danger of losing limbs to amputation.

The office is, in a word, messy. In two words: indisputably messy.

Frames rest against a wall, unhanged, unhooked. The desk is piled with junk mail, papers and books. Not small piles, either. Towers, two or three feet tall.

And what's this? Next to the desk: Girl Scout cookies. Two-year-old Girl Scout cookies. They've gone unclaimed and he doesn't want them, doesn't know what to do with them, so there they sit — Thin Mints and Tagalong cookies.

Hmm. Good morning, Doc. Good to see you, too.

To his credit, Dr. George Geils Jr. spends little time in his office. More likely, he's to be found treating patients, removing bone marrow without surgery and using stem cell technology to save arms and legs that otherwise might be amputated.

Those labors, in all honesty, probably qualify him for a cookie or two. Maybe even an entire box.

Harvesting marrow

Geils makes it clear: He is a not a surgeon.

Good enough, so how do you transplant bone marrow without surgery?

By collecting stem cells through blood, a shift driven by efficiency and costs in the mid-to late '90s.

"You actually get more stem cells from the blood than you can the operating room," Geils says. "It's not the painful process that is depicted."

Many times, doctors can stockpile a sufficient number of stem cells for multiple transplants. As a fellow at the University of Alabama-Birmingham in 1996, he presented a leading paper on bone-marrow transplant. He was only 32.

"My 15 minutes of Andy Warholian fame," Geils says.

But he helped define the current standard of care in terms of obtaining blood stem cells.

He since has established the Roper St. Francis Blood and Marrow Transplant Program. The unit celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2007.

The same year, the hospital began a national trial on critical limb ischemia, aimed to protect diseased limbs from amputation.

The principal investigators? Geils and Dr. Jeb Hallett, well-respected medical director of the hospital's heart and vascular services.

Geils and his team harvest the bone-marrow stem cells, while Hallett injects the cells along the course of the diseased arteries. The procedure avoids ethical conundrums because it bypasses the use of embryonic stem cells.

Out of 11 centers in the country administering the therapy, Roper was the first to enroll a patient, and the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration and Medicare. To be eligible for protocol, patients must have failed all other means of treatment: surgery, bypass, stent procedures.

"They're basically looking at amputation and all the quality of life implications that entails," Geils says.

It's a blind trial, meaning that two out of three patients will receive their own bone-marrow concentrate, the other, blood. A preliminary study was completed in Germany, Geils notes, where only 17 percent of patients receiving stem cells required amputation.

"The study is by no means complete, but let's just say I see favorable things," Geils says.

He also sees broader implications.

"What we're witnessing is the plasticity of stem cells," he says. "The ability of stem cells to become stem cells of another tissue, and grow tissue in another."

Infant M.D.

Geils used to follow his dad around when he was a kid. He blames it on the Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the hospital lounge.

"Maybe my sweet tooth got me into medicine," he jokes.

George Geils Sr., like Junior, is a doctor. A longtime Roper St. Francis physician, he took the first oncology board offered. Today, the two share a private practice, Charleston Hematology/Oncology Associates. Geils' younger brother, Wills, also is a doctor, specializing in cardiovascular disease and internal medicine.

But Geils, 44, maintains his family never pressured him into the medical profession.

"They made it very clear we were going to college," he says. "Beyond that, there was no formal discussion."

Still, Geils' mom likes to point out a photograph of him as an infant. It shows him wearing a bib that reads, "My son, the doctor."

Premonitory, perhaps. Inspired by his father, certainly.

"I love the intensity of (the profession)," Geils says. "When I was in training, I would trade regular ward months for ICU months on my rotation."

Really?

"I enjoy a challenge," Geils says, "and I like to seek out the most challenging things I can."

From the family

Likely, he gleaned other interests from his family, such as an appreciation for travel, having grown up for a time in Germany while his dad served as a hematologist in the Air Force.

His family camped, traveling throughout Europe — France, Luxembourg, Italy, Austria, Spain and England. Geils' parents' den is adorned with pictures of their trips and the places, their three sons standing in front of Big Ben, the Berlin Zoo.

Geils remembers standing in front of the Berlin Wall, snapping pictures of the Brandenburg Gate, looking at the guard towers. He remembers returning years later and seeing the gate, now reopened.

Geils' grandfather and great-uncle, when they were just 17 and 18, immigrated to Charleston from Germany in 1923. They never saw their parents again. Years later, Geils' father brought his dad to Germany, reintroducing him to another brother.

So Geils recognizes the importance of family, and he tries to set aside more time for his wife, Joy, and children, Hannah and George. It's difficult given his work.

"I want to make most of the time I have," he says.

Dr. George Geils Jr.

BORN: September 1964, Charleston.

OCCUPATION: Physician in private practice specializing in medical oncology and hematology; medical director of the Roper St. Francis Blood and Marrow Transplant Program.

FAMILY: Wife, Joy; two children, Hannah, 13, and George III, 10.

WHEN I'M NOT ENGAGED IN WORK: I am lobbying my family to go to our place on Wadmalaw Island.

FAVORITE SONG: None in particular, probably something by Billy Joel.

FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT: Oak Steakhouse. Chef Brett McKee creates a great meal.

I'M ANNOYED BY: Arrogance.

IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN: I would try harder to contain my work schedule and spend more time with my children when they were younger.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE INFLUENCED MY LIFE: More than any other, my father. He is my best friend, my mentor and my partner.

PART OF HISTORY IN WHICH I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO have PARTICIPATEd: Perhaps the Apollo space program.

SOMETHING MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME: I am restoring a 1968 Porsche 911 that my father bought new.

STRONGEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY: Actually, several memories of traveling around Europe when my father was stationed in Germany. Probably the most striking memory was of looking over the wall in Berlin and trying to comprehend the meaning of communism.

Reach Rob Young at 937-5518 and ryoung@postand courier.com.