Media Experts Subcommittee

Committee Roster

Chair 
Surbhi Sidana, MD ('26) 

Appointed Members 
Janis L. Abkowitz, MD ('28) 
Charles S. Abrams, MD ('28) 
Juan Pablo Alderuccio, MD ('28) 
Belinda Avalos, MD ('28) 
Nancy Berliner, MD ('28) 
Catherine M. Bollard, MD ('28) 
Robert A. Brodsky, MD ('26) 
Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD ('28) 
Nathan T. Connell, MD, MPH ('28) 
Jorge Cortes, MD ('27) 
Mark Crowther, MD, MSc, LLM, FRCPC, FRSC ('28) 
Adam Cuker, MD, MS ('28) 
Catherine S Diefenbach, MD ('27) 
Cindy E. Dunbar, MD ('27) 
Titilope Adenike Fasipe, MD, PhD ('27) 
Willem E. Fibbe, MD, PhD ('27) 
Christopher R. Flowers, MD, MSc ('28) 
Jonathan Friedberg, MD ('27) 
Patrick G. Gallagher, MD ('27) 
Aaron T. Gerds, MD, MS ('27) 
Irene M. Ghobrial, MD ('28) 
Lisa Hicks, MD, MSc ('27) 
Jonathan Hoggatt, PhD ('28) 
Jennifer Holter Chakrabarty, MD ('27) 
Brad Kahl, MD ('28) 
Armand Keating, MD ('28) 
Richard Larson, MD ('28) 
Stephanie J. Lee, MD, MPH ('26) 
Jonathan Licht, MD ('26) 
Alison Loren, MD, MSCE ('28) 
Ariela L. Marshall, MD ('27) 
Keith R. McCrae, MD ('26) 
Lauren E Merz, MD, MSc ('26) 
Ruben A. Mesa, MD ('28) 
Laura Michaelis, MD ('28) 
Joseph R. Mikhael, MD ('26) 
Charles G. Mullighan, MD, FRACP, FRCPA, BS ('28) 
Rakhi P. Naik, MD ('28) 
Mohandas Narla, DSc ('27) 
Robert Negrin, MD ('26) 
SARAH H. OBRIEN, MD, MSc ('27) 
Margaret Ragni, MD, MPH ('28) 
Kanti R. Rai, MD ('28) 
Andrew W. Roberts, MBBS, PhD ('27) 
Rayne H. Rouce, MD ('28) 
Bethany Samuelson Bannow, MD ('27) 
Gary J. Schiller, MD ('28) 
Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, MS ('27) 
Roy L. Silverstein, MD ('28) 
David Peter Steensma, MD ('28) 
Wendy Stock, MD ('28) 
Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH ('28) 
Angela C Weyand, MD ('27) 
Kirsten Williams, MD ('28) 
Jane N. Winter, MD ('28) 
Alisa S. Wolberg, PhD ('28) 

Liaisons 
Menaka Pai, MD, BSc, FRCPC, MSc ('27) - Chair, Committee on Quality 
Mary-Elizabeth M. Percival, MD ('27) - Chair, Committee on Practice 
Gary J. Schiller, MD ('28) - ASH RC Board Chair 
Bart Scott, MD ('26) - Chair, Committee on Government Affairs 
Alison R. Walker, MD, MBA, MPH ('26) - Chair, Committee on Advancing Excellence and Population Health 

Staff Liaison 
Melissa McGue 

Committee Mandate

The Media Experts Subcommittee, a subcommittee of the Committee on Communications, is a group of ASH-approved spokespersons on both scientific and policy matters who are media trained by ASH to talk about issues that advance the Society’s agenda. Having a group of trained speakers on call allows ASH to be proactive and nimble in reaching out and responding to media on timely issues and helps fulfill part of the Committee on Communications mandate to increase the Society’s media coverage.

The Committee on Communications works with staff to identify scientific topics that are strategically important to ASH. The Communications staff also collaborate with the staff liaisons to the Committee on Advancing Excellence and Population Health; Committee on Government Affairs; Committee on Practice; and Committee on Quality to identify the top policy issues (including quality of care initiatives) for ASH and develop appropriate messaging and the chairs of those committees - along with the chair of the ASH Research Collaborative Board of Directors - serve as liaison members of the Media Experts Subcommittee for terms congruent with their service on the parent committee.

The Media Experts Subcommittee is composed of scientific experts in selected key topic areas and spokespersons knowledgeable about ASH policy issues who will represent the Society in media interviews to help advance ASH’s strategic goals and priorities. While individuals who are employed with industry (biomedical, pharmaceutical, or medical device companies) are eligible to serve on the subcommittee, they are not permitted to serve as ASH spokespersons. They may be called upon to give their own expert opinion, but they cannot be positioned as speaking on behalf of ASH. It is expected that all members of the subcommittee will disclose their conflicts of interest when speaking with reporters.

The chair of the Committee on Communications chairs the Media Experts Subcommittee. The ASH Officers serve as appointed members. Members of the Media Experts Subcommittee serve three-year, renewable terms (unless otherwise indicated).

Members of the Media Experts Subcommittee participate in mandatory media training at least once during their service on the subcommittee and are authorized to speak on ASH’s behalf and to be referenced as an “ASH spokesperson” in media coverage. Since these individuals have media training and a strong knowledge of ASH’s key messages and priorities in addition to their scientific expertise, they may also be asked to serve as moderators for press briefings at the ASH annual meeting and provide expert commentary and/or assist staff in developing/reviewing the press releases on Blood journals manuscripts and annual meeting abstracts.