ASH Leadership Election Results
Hal Broxmeyer, PhD
Vice-President |
Stephanie Lee, MD, MPH
Councillor | 
Thomas Bensinger, MD
Councillor |
Dr. Hal Broxmeyer, Scientific Director of the Walther Oncology Center and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, was elected vice president of ASH and will serve as vice president in 2008, becoming president-elect in 2009 and then president in 2010. Dr. Stephanie Lee, an Associate Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Associate Professor at the University of Washington, and Dr. Thomas Bensinger, Chief of the Hematology/Oncology Department at Washington Adventist Hospital, were elected ASH councillors. Each will serve a four-year term. Dr. Bensinger holds the councillor position designated for a hematologist in clinical practice.
What is the role of a councillor? We asked Nancy Andrews, MD, PhD, an ASH councillor from 2004-2007.
Councillors serve as voting members of the Executive Committee and attend four Executive Committee meetings per year. In their fourth year of service, councillors serve with the treasurer on the Subcommittee on Program Support. In 2007, councillors approved various items by motion including a late-breaking abstract policy, the new Research Training Award for Fellows, an enhanced public relations campaign ($2 million over three years), a joint workshop with AACR, and the institution of a relationship with Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO).
Serving as a councillor has given me a chance to see ASH from the inside and to have a role in determining how ASH can best serve its members. Councillors participate in planning the annual meeting program and in making all major decisions during their terms. It requires a real commitment of time and energy, but Marty Liggett and the ASH staff are superb—working with them makes this job a real pleasure.
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Hematology Leaders Honored at 2007 Annual Meeting
E. Donnall Thomas Lecture & Prize
Robert Hromas, MD
Dr. Hromas is Professor and Chief of Hematology-Oncology at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center.
Hal E. Broxmeyer, PhD, hand carried the cord blood to France in 1988 for the first cord blood stem cell transplant in the world. The recipient, a young boy with severe Fanconi anemia, needed these cells obtained at birth from his baby sister to replace his own damaged marrow. The recipient is now a thriving young man. Since then, about 10,000 such transplants have been performed worldwide to treat many malignant and non-malignant disorders. For showing that cord blood was a source of transplantable hematopoietic stem cells, and for the first processing and cord blood banking effort, Dr. Broxmeyer is the recipient of the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture & Prize this year. For this contribution, he has also won the Karl Landsteiner Award from the American Association of Blood Banks and the Gold Medal of the City of Paris. Dr. Broxmeyer has also led studies on negative regulators of hematopoiesis and chemokine-controlled trafficking of hematopoietic stem cells. This latter effort produced novel clinical methods of mobilizing peripheral blood stem cells for transplantation. In all, Dr. Broxmeyer has published more than 620 papers. He currently is the Scientific Director of the Walther Oncology Center, and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He has been a Councillor for ASH, Chair of the NIH Hem-2 Study Section, and President of the ISEH. He also organized the first International Conference on Cord Blood Transplantation. Dr. Broxmeyer’s lecture, "The Road to and Future of Cord Blood Transplantation," will take place on Monday, December 10, at 9:30 a.m. during the ASH annual meeting.
Henry M. Stratton Medal
Sharon B. Murphy, MD
Dr. Murphy is Director of the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Murphy is also Chair of the ASH Awards Committee.
The 2007 recipient of the Henry M. Stratton Medal is Carlo Croce, MD, who is recognized for his seminal contributions to the understanding of the molecular genetics of lymphomas and leukemias. Dr. Croce has had a distinguished career and is currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics and Director of the Human Cancer Genetics Program at the Ohio State University School of Medicine in Columbus. He was among the first to recognize the importance of chromosomal translocations in B-cell neoplasia, opening new avenues of research into genetic mechanisms of disease pathogenesis. Among his many contributions have been the discovery, molecular cloning, and characterization of a number of oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and microRNAs, including bcl-1, bcl-2, Tcl-1, and MLL1. Dr. Croce is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has been recognized by numerous prestigious honors and awards, including the Mott Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, and the Pezcoller International Award for Cancer Research and the Clowes Award from AACR. The Henry M. Stratton Medal will be presented to Dr. Croce on Tuesday, December 11, at 9:30 a.m. during the Presidential Symposium.
William Dameshek Prize
Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, FACP
Dr. Kaushansky is Helen M. Ranney Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Kaushansky is also President-Elect of ASH.
The 2007 recipient of the William Dameshek Prize is William P. Vainchenker, MD, PhD, who is recognized for his groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of normal and neoplastic hematopoiesis, and particularly for his recent insights into the genetic basis for the myeloproliferative diseases. Dr. Vainchenker has had a distinguished career and is currently INSERM Directeur de Recherche Exceptionnel and Director of the INSERM Unit 790, focusing on hematopoiesis and normal and leukemic stem cells at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France. Dr. Vainchenker was among the first investigators to grow megakaryocyte colonies in vitro. He participated in the characterization of the c-Mpl proto-oncogene, contributed to the understanding of the physiology of thrombopoietin and its receptor, and identified the humoral mediators of myelofibrosis. Three years ago, Dr. Vainchenker was the first to identify the Jak2V617F mutation in virtually all patients with polycythemia vera and about half of patients with idiopathic myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia. Dr. Vainchenker has received numerous awards from a number of French and international scientific organizations. The William Dameshek Prize will be presented to Dr. Vainchenker on Tuesday, December 11, at 9:30 a.m. during the Presidential Symposium.
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Nominate Your Colleagues
Every year, ASH recognizes the achievements of members like Drs. Broxmeyer, Croce, and Vainchenker with prestigious honorific awards. These awards include the William Dameshek Prize, the Henry M. Stratton Medal, and the E. Donnall Thomas Lecture & Prize.
William Dameshek Prize
This award is named for the late Dr. William Dameshek, a past president of the Society. Dr. Dameshek made major contributions to the Society and was the first editor of ASH’s journal, Blood. The Dameshek Prize is to be awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in hematology during the preceding years.
Henry M. Stratton Medal
The prize is named after the late Henry Maurice Stratton, who made significant contributions to the Society and founded the medical publishing house of Grune and Stratton with Mr. L.H. Grunebaum. The Henry M. Stratton Medal is intended to honor an individual whose contributions to hematology are well recognized and have taken place over a period of several years.
E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize
This lectureship was created in 1992 and named after the Nobel Prize laureate and past society president E. Donnall Thomas, MD. The E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize is intended to recognize pioneering research achievements in hematology.
Awardees are selected by the Awards Committee with final approval by the ASH Executive Committee. To nominate a candidate for any of these awards, please complete the nomination form available from the Honorific Awards page on the ASH Web site. Once completed, the form can be sent to Courtney Krier, Awards Program Coordinator, via e-mail (ckrier@hematology.org), or fax to 202-292-0270. Nominations must be submitted by February 1, 2008, and include all requested information. |
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ASH Mentor Award: Now in Its Second Year and Going Strong
Scott D. Gitlin, MD
Dr. Gitlin is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Director, University of Michigan Health System. Dr. Gitlin is also Chair of the ASH Committee on Training Programs.
Mentors are especially important to the development of anyone pursuing an academic career. Mentors are needed for individuals at all levels of experience, from the trainee to the accomplished full professor. In recognition of the important role that mentors and their mentorship play in individuals’ career development, ASH established the ASH Mentor Award. This prestigious award, now in its second year, was created to recognize the importance of mentoring and the individuals who exemplify the role of "mentor."
For the purposes of this award, "mentoring" is defined as the process of guiding, supporting, and promoting the training and career development of others. The key roles of a mentor include, but are not limited to, stimulating intellectual growth and career development, being a role model, and providing professional guidance and advocacy. Each year, both a basic scientist and a clinical investigator will be recognized through a competitive and rigorous selection process that includes interviews with several of the individuals that were mentored by the nominee (mentees). The selection of the honorees is based on the training experiences and success of the nominee’s mentees, not on the mentor’s personal career achievements. This year’s ASH Mentor Awards will be presented to Drs. Edward Benz and Harold Roberts.
Edward J. Benz, Jr., MD, is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School where he is President of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, CEO of Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, and Director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. He has become a passionate spokesperson advocating the importance of mentoring. Dr. Benz’s mentees describe him as "a consummate scientist, physician, and teacher who leads by example as a research advisor, career counselor, and multi-faceted role model" who "has had a lifelong commitment to medical education—teaching, advising, and nurturing the careers of students, fellows, and junior faculty." He "has had a transforming role in the lives of his mentees." Many of Dr. Benz’s mentees still seek his input and guidance regarding significant matters in their careers and personal lives.
Harold R. Roberts, MD, is currently a faculty member at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill where he has held several leadership roles, including Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Director of the Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, and Director of the Clinical Coagulation Laboratory. He was the founding Director of the UNC Hemophilia Center, which now bears his name. Dr. Roberts taught his mentees "how to think, how to teach, how to communicate with patients, and how to present [their] research." He is identified as being "the singularly most influential person" in the lives of his mentees and one who nurtures undergraduates, medical students, and faculty at all levels. His mentees state that "he has mentored our lives."
The ASH Mentor Award will be presented to Drs. Benz and Roberts on Sunday, December 9, at 1:30 p.m. during the 2007 ASH Annual Meeting, allowing proper recognition to be given to these two outstanding examples of what a mentor should be and to celebrate the mentoring that is provided by so many.
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Venous Thrombosis Takes Center Stage at ASH 2007
Roy L. Silverstein, MD
Dr. Silverstein is Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology at the Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH.
Venous thromboembolism is a common and serious disorder with enormous public health impact. It is becoming increasingly clear that hematologists are well positioned to provide the national and local leadership needed in this field. Along with the usual robust collection of scientific poster and oral presentations related to the mechanisms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and epidemiology of venous thromboembolic disorders (VTE), the ASH annual meeting in Atlanta will offer an extraordinary array of special sessions and events that will be notable to anyone interested in the topic.
At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 8, the ASH Standing Committees on Government Affairs and Practice will jointly host a Special Educational Symposium titled “Thrombosis in the Elderly: A Public Health and Scientific Problem of Unrecognized Dimensions.” VTE incidence increases at an exponential rate beginning at about age 50 with annual incidence approaching one in 100 among octogenarians. This session will feature state-of-the-art presentations by four renowned experts. Drs. Mary Cushman, Charles Esmon, Kenneth Bauer, and William Ershler will outline the significance and magnitude of VTE in the elderly; review current knowledge of its epidemiology and pathophysiology; address specific problems faced by clinicians when diagnosing, treating, offering prophylaxis, or designing clinical research for elderly patients; and discuss multidisciplinary approaches used by geriatricians to address the special needs of older patients.
Immediately following the Special Educational Symposium will be a truly unique event hosted by ASH President Andrew Schafer, MD, that will focus on the broader public health and scientific issues relevant to VTE. Melanie Bloom, national patient spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent DVT and wife of the late NBC correspondent David Bloom, will share her thoughts on the impact of VTE on patients and their families, as well as discuss her efforts to develop a national coalition to prevent DVT. Tanja Popovic, MD, PhD, Chief Science Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will bring her unique expertise to shed light on the impact of VTE on public health, and Jeffrey Weitz, MD, and David Ginsburg, MD, will provide an update on the latest developments in clinical and basic research in venous thrombosis. This special session will take place at 4:00 p.m.
These exciting sessions serve as prelude to the second annual Special Symposium on the Basic Science of Hemostasis and Thrombosis which will again follow the regular ASH meeting from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11. The organizers have put together a spectacular program featuring six invited speakers (Joel Moake, MD; Benjamin T. Kile, PhD; Shahin Rafii, MD; Armin J. Reininger, MD, PhD; Roy L. Silverstein, MD; and Nigel Mackman, MD) spanning all areas of research in hemostasis, thrombosis, platelet biology, and vascular biology, as well as a number of oral presentations selected from the abstracts submitted for the annual meeting. During the session, the most important basic science contributions in 2007 in each of the three major areas of the field (thrombosis, blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, and platelet biology) will be highlighted.
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Learning to Live After DVT
Melanie Bloom
Ms. Bloom is the National Patient Spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent DVT.
Editor’s Note: This is a compelling example of a disease that all of us take for granted, and we assume or think everyone in the lay public also knows about it. However, as pointed out in this article, 74 percent of Americans have no knowledge about what DVT is. This should reinforce to us the job we need to do as hematologists to educate the lay public. ASH is pleased that Ms. Bloom will be in attendance at this year’s annual meeting and she is very anxious to be a part of the special session on venous thromboembolism.
Four years ago, I received a phone call that changed my life forever. My husband David Bloom, a reporter for NBC News who had been embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, lost his life. But, the killer was not an insurgent’s bullet or an IED explosion; rather the bomb was buried deep inside David’s own body. His death was due to a blood clot.
Prior to David’s death, I had never heard of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism, and I wasn’t alone. In 2003, I was just one of the 74 percent of Americans who had no knowledge of this condition. But after David’s death, I dedicated myself to learning more and spreading the word. I wanted to share my newfound knowledge with as many people as I could; I felt if I could spare just one family the tragedy that my family and I suffered, David’s death would not be in vain. In 2004, I joined the Coalition to Prevent DVT and have had the wonderful opportunity to reach millions of Americans with our message.
I continue to be inspired by the many patients who have shared their stories with the Coalition, some with happy endings and some with heartbreaking endings like my own. As I know firsthand, it is both encouraging and comforting to realize that no one is facing this alone. To me, the most inspiring part of being the national patient spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent DVT is knowing that by getting the message out we can have an impact on others’ lives. After all, how often do we get the chance to do work that can have such a profound effect?
For me and millions of patients nationwide, DVT is much more than a nameless and faceless condition. David’s DVT changed my life, but it has also given me a new purpose. Serving as the national spokesperson for the Coalition has allowed me to channel my grief into something positive and transform tragedy into a message of hope. I have learned that helping others is the greatest healer of all.
The Coalition to Prevent DVT is a national organization made up of more than 50 representatives from medical societies, patient advocacy groups, and other public health organizations. The organization is dedicated to reducing the immediate and long-term dangers of deep-vein thrombosis and its potentially fatal complication, pulmonary embolism. Ms. Bloom is one of four panelists for the 2007 annual meeting special session on venous thromboembolism. This special session is scheduled for Saturday, December 8, at 4:00 p.m.
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ESAs: Pocket Guide and Expert Commentary Available at Practice Forum
Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are a hot topic with the release of the National Coverage Decision (NCD) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the recently released "ASH-ASCO 2007 Clinical Practice Guideline Update on the Use of Epoetin and Darbepoetin." To further help ASH members navigate the clinical issues surrounding ESAs, ASH has developed a pocket guide on the new guideline and additional topics of interest. The pocket guide will be distributed at the 2007 Practice Forum, "Evidence, Safety, and Clinical Decision-Making: The Case of ESAs" at the ASH annual meeting on December 8 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
During this forum, Dr. Jerry Spivak will address the scientific evidence regarding potential adverse effects of ESAs, such as tumor progression and thrombosis risk. Dr. Alan Lichtin will present the new guideline and focus on changes since the 2002 guideline, and Dr. Samuel Silver will discuss the NCD, providing insight into ASH’s role in the debate. Following their presentations, the speakers will assemble as a panel on stage to answer questions from the audience. A special reception for practitioners will follow the program.
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New Best of ASH Session at Annual Meeting: Clinical Translation – 2007 and Beyond
Feeling rushed to take in all the educational and scientific information at the annual meeting? Don’t worry. ASH has created a new session just for you. The "Best of ASH" session was developed to provide a broad overview of the key scientific developments and educational highlights presented during the annual meeting from a clinical perspective.
Jane N. Winter, MD, and Kenneth S. Zuckerman, MD, will co-chair the 2007 Best of ASH session. Ari M. Melnick, MD, and Mitchell Weiss, MD, PhD, will present an overview of the key scientific developments of the annual meeting with a focus on the clinical translation of the cutting-edge topics. Don’t miss this newest addition to the annual meeting program schedule.
The Best of ASH session will take place on Tuesday, December 11, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Sidney Marcus Auditorium.
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New Fellow Award for Research
The ASH Committee on Training Programs and the Trainee Council are pleased to announce the creation of the Research Training Award for Fellows on a three-year pilot basis. Designed to encourage junior researchers to choose careers in academic hematology, this award provides funding to fellows in hematology, hematology/oncology, or hematology-related training programs who need protected time to perform research. The award grants $50,000 for a one-year period to second- and third-year fellows. Five awards will be made annually. Letters of intent are due January 1, 2008. Applications are due February 1, 2008.
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Highlights of ASH Meetings in Texas and Washington
Mark your calendar for the Highlights of ASH Meeting, occurring on two dates in two locations in February 2008. Highlights of ASH will bring expert analysis of the top abstracts from the 2007 ASH annual meeting to the states of Washington and Texas. Plan to attend either February 1-2 in Seattle, WA, or February 8-9 in Austin, TX.
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Call for Submissions to the Image Bank and the Teaching Cases
The ASH Image Bank and Teaching Cases are two educational resources that are designed to further the understanding of hematology and improve patient care. These programs can be accessed online free of charge.
The Image Bank contains more than 500 images that are searchable by title, author, category, and date. The Teaching Cases are designed to simulate the steps involved in diagnosing a patient, from taking the history and performing a physical exam, to ordering and interpreting lab tests, to making a final diagnosis and following the clinical course of the disease.
We need your help to ensure that these tools are up-to-date and useful for all who need them. If you have a teaching case or an interesting image, please consider submitting them to the ASH Education and Training Department at cme@hematology.org.
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2008 MMSAP Deadline Approaching
The Minority Medical Student Award Program is an eight- to 12-week program that allows medical students from disadvantaged backgrounds to complete a research project, gain exposure to hematology, and benefit from the support of a research and career mentor. Applications must be received by March 14, 2008. If you have questions, please contact Courtney Krier at ckrier@hematology.org. Read more about these and all of the ASH award opportunities on the grants page of the ASH Web site.
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Nancy Andrews Named Dean of the Duke University School of Medicine
Nancy C. Andrews, MD, PhD, George R. Minot Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and ASH councillor, has been named dean of the Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. Andrews is the first woman to be appointed dean of Duke’s School of Medicine.
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