By Susan S. Smyth, MD, PhD and By Ari Melnick, MD

2009-05-01

Dr. Smyth is Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

I received an ASH Scholar Award in 2001, just as I was beginning my first faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina. The ASH award was pivotal to my establishing an independent laboratory. Although my salary was supported by a K08 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, I had few resources for experiments and no money to hire laboratory staff. The ASH award provided funds for reagents and supplies, and it allowed me to hire my first employee, a post-doctoral fellow who worked with me for more than five years and published a half-dozen papers. With the data we generated in the two years, I was able to obtain additional funding from the National Institutes of Health to expand our group. Without the initial support from the ASH award, my laboratory might not have gotten off the ground. The focus of the award was on the interplay between inflammation and thrombosis, which built on work that I did as a fellow with Barry Coller and as a graduate student with Leslie Parise — both members of ASH. 

My appreciation of ASH extends beyond provision of the important funds that started my laboratory. I am grateful to all of the members of ASH who have trained and mentored me over the last 20 years. Their interactions shaped my career as a physician-scientist. Growing up in rural North Carolina, my neighborhood had few houses. One of the closest belonged to Harold Roberts, and for most of my life I have associated the University of North Carolina with excellence in basketball and hematology. After spending four stimulating but cold years in New England as an undergraduate, I returned home to attend the University of North Carolina as a student in the MD/PhD program. My favorite class during the first two years of medical school was the hematology portion of the systems course. As a graduate student with Leslie Parise, I developed a lasting interest in platelets and attended my first major scientific meeting — the ASH annual meeting in 1990. Cheryl Hillery was completing her hematology fellowship training in Leslie’s lab while I was a student; Gil White served on my thesis committee. Beverly Mitchell was ward attending during my hematology-oncology rotation as a third-year medical student. I moved to New York for my residency and, before beginning my clinical training, was able to work with Elinor Peerschke. During my clinical training, I was instructed by Wadie Bahou and Mae Hultin and initially planned to do a fellowship in hematology-oncology. During my internship, abciximab received approval as adjunctive therapy for angioplasty. Having used the parent molecule 7E3 in experiments as a graduate student, I found it to be a career-changing experience to administer abciximab to patients, and I began to appreciate that the future of platelet therapy might lie in clinical cardiology. After completing my residency, I performed the research portion of my cardiology fellowship with Barry Coller before joining the faculty at the University of North Carolina. 

I have been incredibly fortunate to have crossed paths with so many outstanding hematologists and scientists, some of whom are mentioned above. Most importantly, however, were my doctoral and fellowship mentors, Leslie Parise and Barry Coller. They taught me the power of the scientific method, encouraged my curiosity, and provided unwavering support. Their encouragement, enthusiasm, and direction positioned me to receive the ASH award. With the award, I was able to build the foundation of my laboratory. Our group has grown substantially since the award, but our focus on inflammation and thrombosis remains. I now serve as director of an MD/PhD program and can only hope that our current students find societies in their respective fields with members who provide the career support that I have received from the American Society of Hematology.

Dr. Melnick is Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Thinking back to the time when I applied for an ASH Scholar Award brings to mind the uncertainty and fear associated with attempting the perilous transition to an independent physician-scientist career. I obtained my medical degree at the University of Buenos Aires, after which I moved to the United States for clinical training in internal medicine and hematology-oncology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Although I was interested in the molecular basis of disease, I did not imagine that meaningful laboratory research was in the cards for someone like me without research experience. I was extremely lucky to meet an enthusiastic physician-scientist, Jonathan Licht, who offered me a research rotation in his laboratory. Dr. Licht, a member of ASH, provided me an opportunity to study the molecular pathogenesis of acute promyelocytic leukemia.   

Over time, I have come to realize that one of the most important career-development factors is to train under the supervision of those able to provide committed, unselfish, and thoughtful mentoring. Dr. Licht embodies these characteristics and to this day remains a central role model and advisor. I benefited as well from the mentorship of several additional outstanding hematology physician-scientists, especially ASH Members Drs. Janice Gabrilove and George Atweh. They have also shaped my attitude and commitment toward the ethical conduct of research and devotion to trainee-career development.

As a post-doctoral fellow torn between clinical work and the laboratory, it was difficult to envision being able to develop an independently funded, productive research group. I did not believe that with my background as a clinician and relatively little science training I would be able to make this transition. I could not imagine that any group of eminent physician-scientists would consider me qualified and capable of taking this step. In the midst of this crisis of confidence, Dr. Licht suggested that I apply for the 2002 ASH Scholar Award. I submitted a research plan that had conceptually emerged from the work I had done in leukemia but was focused instead on the molecular pathogenesis of lymphomas. The fact that the ASH study section selected my proposal and considered that I was meritorious as a candidate gave me the crucial dose of confidence that I needed to go out and obtain my first independent faculty position at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

As a hematologist, receiving the ASH Scholar Award meant two very special things to me: that of being accepted into the field I had chosen and being told by anonymous experts that I had their support. The psychological impact, especially for someone with my background, cannot be overstated. The Scholar Award gave me that crucial bit of confidence required for me to take risks and follow my intuition and creativity. I am currently an associate professor in the division of Hematology/Oncology at the Weill Cornell Medical College. I run a fairly large research group focused on mechanisms of transcriptional regulation and therapeutic targeting of transcription factors in hematologic malignancies. Over the years I have participated actively in the ASH Committee on Training Programs, the Awards Committee, and the Program Committee, and in creating ASH-related educational and research opportunities for trainees. I have had the honor of having my own trainees win ASH Merit and Scholar Awards and to observe the impact of this recognition on their careers. In the effort to sustain the continued vitality and growth of the hematology field, the ASH Scholar Award remains an essential means for fixing the “leaky pipeline” toward the development of a successful career in hematology research.

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