In recognition of his research accomplishments and leadership in moving basic science discoveries in stem cell biology into the clinic, he was elected President of the International Society of Cellular Therapy (1995–1997), Treasurer of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (1995–2002) and President of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (1999–2000).
He then went to Dalhousie University, completing his MSc in cell physiology under Dr. Gordon Kaplan on A Radiological Investigation of Two Cellular Enzyme Systems of Yeast (1964).
During his medical training he was greatly influenced by Dr. Ross Langley, a research-oriented hematologist who suggested that Eaves do a PhD at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto where Dr. Robert Bruce was collaborating with Drs.
Working under the supervision of Bruce (AACR Award), and in association with Till and McCulloch and a vibrant group of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, Eaves completed his PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto with a thesis entitled Studies on the Control of Murine Bone Marrow Function (1974).
[citation needed] In 1981, as one of the first Scholars of the BC Health Care Research Foundation, Eaves founded the Terry Fox Laboratory.
In 1985, Eaves became Head of Hematology at UBC, the VGH and the BCCA where for the next 18 years he focused on building the world class Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program of British Columbia.
In the 1980s, to raise money to support running the Terry Fox Laboratory, Eaves sold urinary erythropoietin and tissue culture reagents to research colleagues around the world.
However, the BC Cancer Foundation did not have the $1 million needed to build such a facility and encouraged Eaves to buy the business from them and raise the money himself, which he did by fully mortgaging his home and obtaining a loan from Western Economic Diversification.
In addition to its Vancouver facilities, STEMCELL has distribution and sales offices in the US, Europe, Australia and Singapore plus distributors in all other major countries.