ASH Recognizes Representative Bill Foster with 2020 Public Service Award

(WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2020) —The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will honor Representative Bill Foster, PhD, (D-IL) for his outstanding support of hematology research. He will be recognized at the all-virtual 2020 ASH Annual Meeting, December 5-8.

Rep. Foster will receive the 2020 ASH Public Service Award, which recognizes unparalleled leadership by an elected public official on issues of importance to hematology research and/or practice.

“ASH is pleased to honor Rep. Foster, a champion for hematology in Congress who has advanced research issues that are critical to our members and their patients,” said ASH President Stephanie Lee, MD, MPH, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “Rep. Foster has been an enthusiastic partner in educating Members of Congress about the importance of supporting biomedical research and garnering strong support for the research funding that will lead to tomorrow’s treatment and cures.”

Rep. Foster is a former physicist who has represented the 11th Congressional District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2013, having previously served as the representative of the 14th Congressional District of Illinois. Before he was elected to Congress, Rep. Foster worked as a high-energy physicist and particle accelerator designer at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, working with a team that discovered the top quark, the heaviest known form of matter. He brings his enthusiasm and expertise in science to the halls of Congress, where, as a member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, he has fought for evidence-based policies and championed sustained federal funding for scientific research. Rep. Foster understands the importance of educating his colleagues in the House about the benefits of scientific discovery, and he has worked with ASH to both sponsor and speak at congressional briefings related to genome editing, sickle cell disease, and novel cancer therapies, including chimeric antigen receptor therapy (CAR-T).

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is the world’s largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. For more than 60 years, the Society has led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. ASH publishes Blood (www.bloodjournal.org), the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field, and Blood Advances (www.bloodadvances.org), an online, peer-reviewed open access journal.

Contact:
Amanda Szabo, American Society of Hematology
aszabo@hematology.org; 202-552-4914