2009-07-13
(WASHINGTON) – The American Society of Hematology
(ASH), the world’s largest professional society of blood specialists,
will honor six scientists who have made significant contributions to
the understanding of hematologic diseases. These awards, including the
newly created Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize, will be presented at
the 51st ASH Annual Meeting taking place December 5-8 in New Orleans.
Past ASH president H. Franklin Bunn, MD, of the
Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, will be presented with the
Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology, which
was established in 2007. This award, named for Wallace Henry Coulter, a
prolific inventor who made important contributions to hematology and to
ASH, is bestowed on an individual who has demonstrated a lifetime
commitment and made outstanding contributions to hematology, and who
has made a significant impact on education, research, and/or practice.
Dr. Bunn will receive the award for his leadership in advancing the
field of hematology and hematology research for more than 40 years.
Throughout his career, Dr. Bunn’s research has represented only a part
of his commitment to the field. He has served on many National
Institutes of Health advisory groups and councils and as an Associate
Editor of Blood, a reviewer and editor of publications about
hemoglobin and hemoglobin disorders, and an author of two textbooks.
Most importantly, he has been an inspiring teacher of hematology to
medical students and a masterful mentor of fellows and junior faculty.
Connie Eaves, PhD, of the BC Cancer Agency,
University of British Columbia in Vancouver, will be presented with the
Henry M. Stratton Medal, which honors an individual whose
well-recognized contributions to hematology have taken place over a
period of several years. Dr. Eaves will receive this award for her
remarkable achievements in the area of stem cell biology for more than
two decades. Dr. Eaves has been on the cutting edge of adapting or
introducing technologies related to stem cell biology, especially her
ground-breaking techniques of using the long-term culture system as
means of understanding the proliferative and renewal properties of
normal and malignant primitive human hematopoietic stem cells.
Louis M. Staudt, MD, PhD, of the National
Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research in Bethesda, MD, will be
presented with the William Dameshek Prize, awarded to an individual who
has made a recent outstanding contribution to the field. Dr. Staudt
will be recognized for his landmark contributions to the diagnosis and
treatment of lymphomas. Dr. Staudt pioneered the use of gene expression
profiling to delineate clinically distinct lymphoma subtypes and
molecular predictors of survival. He further showed that each molecular
subtype of cancer has its own “Achilles heel,” which can be discovered
by loss-of-function RNA interference-based genetic screens. His work
established a new paradigm for understanding the pathways of
lymphomagenesis and the interactions of the malignant cell with its
environment.
John E. Dick, PhD, of the University Health
Network in Toronto, will be recognized with the E. Donnall Thomas
Lecture and Prize for his pioneering research into the development of
human leukemia, which has transformed the view of how leukemia
progresses. This prize, named after a Nobel Prize laureate and past
Society president, recognizes pioneering research achievements in
hematology.
Thomas Maniatis, PhD, of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and Yuet Wai Kan, MD,
of the University of California - San Francisco, are the inaugural
recipients of the Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize. This award, named
for the late Ernest Beutler, MD, past president of ASH and
physician-scientist for more than 50 years, includes a two-part
lectureship that recognizes major advances related to a single topic.
This year’s lecture will be on the impact of molecular genetic studies
of globin genes on the diagnosis and treatment of thalassemia.
For more information, please visit the 51st ASH Annual Meeting Web site.
To arrange an interview with an award recipient, please
contact Patrick C. Irelan, ASH Communications Assistant, at
202-776-0544 or pirelan@hematology.org.
The American Society of Hematology (www.hematology.org)
is the world’s largest professional society concerned with the causes
and treatment of blood disorders. Its mission is to further the
understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders
affecting blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic, and
vascular systems, by promoting research, clinical care, education,
training, and advocacy in hematology. In September, ASH launched Blood: The Vital Connection (www.bloodthevitalconnection.org),
a credible online resource addressing bleeding and clotting disorders,
anemia, and cancer. It provides hematologist-approved information about
these common blood conditions including risk factors, preventive
measures, and treatment options.
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