New Leadership Elected to American Society of Hematology

(WASHINGTON, November 2, 2020) – The American Society of Hematology (ASH), the world’s largest professional society concerned with the causes and treatment of blood disorders, today announced the election of four new members to its Executive Committee for terms beginning after the 2020 ASH Annual Meeting in December.

Robert A. Brodsky, MD, will serve a one-year term as vice president followed by successive terms as president-elect and president. Cynthia E. Dunbar, MD, will serve a four-year term as secretary, and Jamile M. Shammo, MD, FASCP, FACP, and Betty S. Pace, MD, will each serve four-year terms as councillors.

“As our field faces unprecedented challenges resulting from the pandemic, ASH members need dedicated, visionary leaders who will offer creative solutions to ensure the Society continues to support important research, cultivate a strong workforce, and advocate on behalf of hematology patients worldwide,” said 2020 ASH President Stephanie Lee, MD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “Drs. Brodsky, Dunbar, Shammo, and Pace bring a wealth of ASH experience and hematology expertise, and I know the Society and our field will continue to thrive under their leadership.”

Dr. Brodsky is a professor of medicine and oncology and the director of the Division of Hematology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he is also the director of the Physician-Scientist Pathway for the Osler Medical Training Program. Dr. Brodsky’s research interests include bone marrow failure states, bone marrow transplantation for non-malignant diseases, complement and complement-related disorders, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.

Dr. Brodsky has been a dedicated ASH volunteer, currently completing his term as the Society’s secretary. An ASH member since 1992, Dr. Brodsky has chaired the ASH Scientific Committee on Bone Marrow Failure and has served the Program Committee since 2014, including co-chairing the 2016 Scientific Program. Dr. Brodsky currently serves on the Task Force on Immunotherapies and also served on the editorial board of ASH’s flagship journal, Blood.

“My experiences working on various ASH programs have provided me with a deep appreciation and understanding of the Society’s mission to promote research, clinical care, training, and advocacy in hematology,” Dr. Brodsky said. “As I look toward the next few years, recruiting, inspiring, training, and mentoring the next generation of hematologists is of clear importance. We need to recruit a diverse, inclusive workforce to treat hematology patients and ensure that early-career investigators can access research funding that allows them to pursue clinical and laboratory-based research.”

Dr. Dunbar, secretary-elect, is the chief of the Translational Stem Cell Biology Branch within the Intramural Research Program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, and was recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine. She is currently completing her term as an ASH councillor. Dr. Dunbar’s research spans from basic laboratory studies through clinical trials focused on hematopoiesis, natural killer cell biology, hematopoietic stem cell and CAR-T cell gene therapies, and the pathophysiology and treatment of congenital and acquired bone marrow failure syndromes.

As a prior hematology fellowship program director, and a founding member of the NIH Equity Committee, Dr. Dunbar is committed to developing and supporting a diverse hematology workforce. Dr. Dunbar, a member of ASH since 1988, served as editor-in-chief of the ASH flagship journal Blood from 2008-2013 after serving as associate editor from 1998-2007. She also served as a faculty member for the ASH-European Hematology Association Translational Research Training in Hematology Program from 2011–2016 and was co-director in 2016. She has served on the ASH Nominating Committee, the Program Committee, and has participated in several Society task forces and awards study sessions. More recently, Dr. Dunbar has been part of a small group of ASH volunteers who mobilized in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to develop a series of clinical FAQs to address the impact of COVID-19 on patients with blood diseases and to curate a collection of a variety of resources to assist hematologists in navigating the ongoing public health crisis.

Dr. Shammo, councillor-elect, is a professor of medicine and pathology of the section of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Hematology/Oncology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Shammo’s research interests include myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), and bone marrow failure. An active ASH member, she served as an author of the ASH Self-Assessment Program for six years and served as chair of the ASH Annual Meeting Education Program session on MPNs in 2016. Dr. Shammo is a member of the Committee on Practice, and has represented the Society’s community of practicing hematologists as co-chair of the ASH/ASCO Carrier Advisory Committee and alternate advisor to the American Medical Association’s Specialty Society RVS Update Committee (RUC). Her service also includes several Society subcommittees, including the Reimbursement Subcommittee and the Quality Measure Oversight Subcommittee.

Dr. Pace, councillor-elect, is a professor of pediatrics and Francis J. Tedesco Distinguished Chair of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics; a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology; and a professor of graduate studies at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University. Her research interests include drug discovery to treat sickle cell disease, mechanisms of globin gene regulation, and training junior investigators and increasing diversity in the hematology workforce. A member since 1990, Dr. Pace has a long history of service to ASH and is currently faculty for the ASH Ambassador Program, an ASH Bridge Grant Reviewer, and a Minority Medical Student Award Program Advisory Mentor. Her service has been a substantial part of the Society’s growing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has served on the Committee on Promoting Diversity and helped facilitate the ASH Workshop at Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. Dr. Pace also served on the Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology from 2007-2010.

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. www.hematology.org

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