American Society of Hematology Announces 2026 Scholar Award Recipients

Expanded ASH Scholar Award program supports early-career hematology researchers during critical transition period

(WASHINGTON, January 22, 2026) — The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is awarding its 2026 Scholar Award to 53 early-career investigators dedicated to careers in hematology research. Designed to support recipients as they transition from training programs to careers as independent investigators, ASH significantly expanded this award in response to federal research cuts threatening the pipeline of future hematologists, resulting in a record-breaking number of awardees in 2026.

“The Scholar Award has been an important part of ASH’s more than forty-year-long commitment to nurturing the next generation of hematologists and scientists studying blood disorders,” said Robert Negrin, MD, 2026 ASH President. “ASH’s support for early-career researchers has not wavered in the face of threats to research funding, and this year, we’re proud to support more than 50 individuals whose work will improve the lives of individuals living with blood disorders.”

As part of the Society’s $12 million commitment addressing ongoing threats to hematology research, ASH is awarding 18 additional Scholar Awards compared to the previous year, increasing its total investment across all awards programs to more than $20 million in 2025-2026. In conjunction with this commitment, ASH revised the Scholar Award eligibility criteria to better connect applicants with the right award.

First established in 1985, each ASH Scholar Award provides $100,000 for the Fellow level, $125,000 for the Fellow to Faculty level, and $150,000 for the Junior Faculty level. The program funds hematologists in the United States and Canada who conduct basic, translational, and clinical research that advances the understanding and treatment of blood disorders.

Since its launch, ASH has awarded 731 Scholar Awards to 684 investigators and which has led to transformative blood disorder research, including treatment advances for individuals with acute myeloid leukemia; identification of a new platelet disorder; and a project that improved broad understanding of hemophilia by genotyping more than 11,000 people living with the disorder. Previous awardees have gone on to receive more than $3 billion in research funding.

The 2026 Scholar Awards recipients:

Basic/Translational Research Fellows
Adekunle Alagbe, MD, PhD, University of Pittsburgh
Michael Cole, MD, DPhil, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Yang Feng, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine
Ross Firestone, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Rebecca Hale, MD, PhD, Boston Children's Hospital
Fan He, MBBS, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis
Yuanyuan Ji, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Danielle Kirkey, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Rubia Isler Mancuso, PhD, Yale University
Francesco Mazziotta, MD, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
John Morris, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Nilesh Pandey, PhD, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport
Philip Pauerstein, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
Alba Rodriguez-Meira, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Aya Shibuya, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine
James Swann, DVM, DPhil, Columbia University
Elizabeth Traxler, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Chen Weng, PhD, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Justin Yoo, MD, Emory University School of Medicine

Basic/Translational Research Fellow to Faculty Scholars
Mark Althoff, PhD, University of Colorado Denver
Charles Antony, PhD, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania
Georgios Christakopoulos, MD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Jose Gabriel Barcia Duran, PhD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Gagan Flora, PhD, University of Iowa
Cynthia Hahn, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Eiko Hayase, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
Michael Kramer, MD, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis

Basic/Translational Research Junior Faculty
Senthil Velan Bhoopalan, MBBS, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Jaewoo Choi, PhD, Yonsei University
Saeed Daneshmandi, PhD, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Susan DeWolf, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Caroline Diorio, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Lauren Goins, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine
Jahnavi Gollamudi, MD, University of Cincinnati
Laura Haynes, PhD, University of Michigan
Tzu-Chieh Ho, PhD, Indiana University
Moonjung Jung, MD, MS, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Theodoros Karantanos, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Coraline Mlynarczyk, PhD, Yale University
Manasa Nayak, PhD, University of Iowa
Lisa Niswander, MD, PhD, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Scott Peslak, MD, PhD, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania
Polina Shindiapina, MD, PhD, The Ohio State University
Sean Tracy, MD, PhD, University of Minnesota
Peter van Galen, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Clinical Research Fellow
Yannis Valtis, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Clinical Research Junior Faculty
Nadine Abdallah, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
Juan Alderuccio, MD, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami
Sherif Badawy, MD, MBA, MS, Northwestern University
Jan Bewersdorf, MD, Yale School of Medicine
James Godfrey, MD, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
Rushad Patell, MBBS, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Noha Sharafeldin, MBBChir, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham

ASH Scholar Awards are made possible through support from the ASH Foundation as well as from the corporate community, individual donors, and funds committed by the Society. ASH gratefully acknowledges AstraZeneca and the Deerfield Foundation for supporting this award.

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (hematology.org) is the world’s largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. Since 1958, the Society has led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. Join the #Fight4Hematology by visiting hematology.org/fight4hematology.

The Blood journals (https://ashpublications.org/journals) are the premier source for basic, translational, and clinical hematologic research. The Blood journals publish more peer-reviewed hematology research than any other academic journals worldwide.

Contact:
Melissa McGue (202) 552-4927
newsroom@hematology.org