ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee

Committee Roster

Chair 
Rakesh Mehta, MD ('27) 

Vice Chair 
Caitlin M O'Neill, MD ('27) 

Appointed Members 
Taha Bat, MD ('28) 
Alexander A Boucher, MD ('27) 
Ronak H. Mistry, DO ('27) 
Anika SMITA Patel, MD, BS ('27) 

Liaisons 
Ritika Dutta, MD ('27) - Trainee Council 
Noha Soror, MD, MSc ('28) - Committee on Advancing Excellence and Population Health 

Staff Liaison 
Piper Sloan, MA 

Committee Mandate

The ASH Ambassador program is designed to support the recruitment and retention of trainees into the field of hematology and to learn about ASH career development and training programs. The ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee, a subcommittee of the Committee on Training, is responsible for developing recruitment strategies, resources, and innovative opportunities for ASH appointed faculty ambassadors at their school of medicine campus to recruit underrepresented minority trainees, pre-med students, allopathic and osteopathic medical students, internal medicine residents, medicine-pediatric residents, and fellows, to pursue lifelong careers in hematology. The subcommittee seeks to advance ASH’s long-term goal of increasing interest in the field of hematology while growing the next generation of hematologists.

Members of the ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee must have a strong interest in medical student recruitment with a demonstrated background at their school of medicine (MD or DO) for being able to easily engage with medical students and trainees of various levels based on their (1) prior experiences with medical students, (2) prior activities with learners outside of the classroom, and (3) overall level of enthusiasm for promoting the medical specialty hematology.

The ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee serves as the study section for the ASH Ambassador program. Members of the subcommittee are expected to provide guidance and input on best practices regarding the following goals and priorities of the ASH Ambassador program tied to Hematology Student Interest Groups:

  • provide medical students with information about hematology as a medical specialty and as a preferred career pathway;
  • expose medical students to physicians and other health care providers in the field of hematology with interesting and successful careers who can provide students with a sense of what it is like to be a hematologist or subspecialist; and
  • provide opportunities throughout the academic year for medical students to learn, network, and relax together, forming a strong sense of community, collaboration, and interest in hematology.

The ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee chair and vice chair are appointed to a two-year term with the option for reappointment to a one-year term once. Members of the subcommittee are appointed to four-year, non-renewable terms and include experts from various stakeholder groups (i.e., academia, school of medicine faculty members, current and/or former faculty as well as past participants of the ASH Medical Educators Institute, and former Trainee Council members). A current member of the Committee on Advancing Excellence and Population Health as well as the Trainee Council serves as a liaison member of the subcommittee for a term congruent with service on the parent committee.

Members of the ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee are required to participate in quarterly virtual meetings and attend one in-person meeting each year at ASH Headquarters in Washington, DC.

The chair of the ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee serves as a liaison member of the Committee on Training and is expected to attend the meetings of that committee. A member of the ASH Ambassador Oversight Subcommittee serves as a liaison member of the Hematology Mentorship Oversight Working Group and is expected to attend the meetings of that committee.