Barry S. Coller
Barry Coller, MD, who served as president of ASH in 1998, is well known for his research in platelet physiology. His studies of the rare platelet disorder Glanzmann thrombasthenia, which is associated with excessive bleeding, and his development of monoclonal antibodies to the GPIIb/IIIa receptor led to the development of the antiplatelet drug abciximab, a derivative of one of those antibodies, in collaboration with scientists at Centocor. Originally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1994, it is now used worldwide to prevent complications of coronary interventions such as angioplasty and stent insertion in patients with cardiovascular disease.
For his scientific achievements, Dr. Coller was awarded the Henry M. Stratton Medal in 2005 and membership in both the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves as the David Rockefeller Professor of Medicine, the vice president for Medical Affairs, and the head of the Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology at The Rockefeller University in New York, as well as physician-in-chief of The Rockefeller University Hospital