ASH to present honorific awards to hematologists
Several hematologists will be honored during this year’s ASH Annual Meeting, scheduled for Dec. 10-13 in New Orleans.
ASH’s honorific awards recognize clinicians and scientists who have made important contributions to the field.
“We applaud this year’s honorific award recipients, all of whom have made tremendous contributions to our field. They have dedicated their careers to advancing patient care, research and education, all of which directly improve the lives of people with blood disorders,” ASH President Jane N. Winter, MD, professor of medicine at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, said in a press release. “ASH values opportunities to recognize leaders and role models with diverse perspectives, talents and experiences, who are dedicated to furthering the future of hematology.”
Irving Weissman, MD, director of Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, will receive the Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology.
Weissman — recognized for his contributions to the understanding of stem cell biology — has conducted extensive research in hematopoiesis, leukemia and hematopoietic stem cells.
Peter Hillmen, MD, PhD, emeritus professor at University of Leeds School of Medicine, and John Atkinson, MD, professor of medicine and molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will receive the Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize.
The award honors one person for enabling advances in basic science and another for using clinical science or translational research to carry basic science advances through to tangible improvements in patient care.
Hillmen will be recognized for his research on paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Atkinson will be recognized for his discovery of a membrane cofactor protein, a complement regulatory protein.
James Gavin, MD, PhD, clinical professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and David Wilkes, MD, dean emeritus of University of Virginia School of Medicine, will receive the ASH Award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity.
Gavin and Wilkes will be honored for their commitment to diversity in medicine through their leadership of the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The program has supported 330 scholars since 1983.
Irene Ghobrial, MD, director of the clinical investigator research program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will receive the William Dameshek Prize.
The award is presented to an early- or mid-career hematologist who made a recent outstanding contribution to the hematology field.
Ghobrial will be recognized for her research on the mechanisms underlying disease progression in multiple myeloma.
Bruce Blazar, MD, chair in pediatric oncology at University of Minnesota Medical School, will receive the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize.
The award recognizes pioneering research achievements that represent a paradigm shift or significant discovery.
Blazar will be recognized for his contributions to the field of transplantation immunology and stem cell biology, and his research focused on strategies to reduce blood and bone marrow transplant complications.
Timothy Ley, MD, professor of oncology and chief of the section of stem cell biology in the division of oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Robert Montgomery, MD, professor at Medical College of Wisconsin, will receive the Henry M. Stratton Medal.
The award honors two senior investigators who made important contributions to basic and clinical/translational hematology research over several years.
Ley, the basic science awardee, will be recognized for leading the effort to sequence the first human cancer genomes from patients with acute myeloid leukemia. This work led to the discovery of previously unknown drivers of AML and also helped create a foundation for the Cancer Genome Atlas.
Montgomery, the translational/clinical awardee, will be recognized for his contributions to understanding hemophilia, von Willebrand disease, and interactions between von Willebrand factor and factor VIII.
Michael Caligiuri, MD, president of City of Hope National Medical Center, and Christopher Flowers, MD, MS, chair of lymphoma/myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will receive ASH Mentor Awards for their contribution to the professional development of several hematology trainees.
Caligiuri has mentored more than 100 people over the past 3 decades. He also has played an important role in supporting ASH’s Minority Medical Student award program.
Flowers co-developed the ASH Minority Recruitment Initiative, which provides a 13-year pipeline of awards extending from the first year of medical school to faculty positions. He also has sponsored participants in the ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program, the ASH Amos Minority Faculty Development Program and several other training programs. He also served as faculty member and co-chair of the ASH Clinical Research Training Institute.