American Society of Hematology Recognizes Ronald Hoffman, MD, and Oliver W. Press, MD, PhD, for Outstanding Mentorship

(WASHINGTON, August 24, 2017) – The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will honor Ronald Hoffman, MD, and Oliver W. Press, MD, PhD, with 2017 Mentor Awards at the 59th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta for their sustained, outstanding commitment to the training and career development of early-career hematologists.

The ASH Mentor Award was established in 2006 to recognize hematologists who have excelled in mentoring trainees and colleagues. Each year, the Society recognizes two outstanding mentors in the areas of basic science, clinical investigation, education, or clinical/community care who have had a significant, positive impact on their mentees’ careers and, through their mentees, have advanced research and patient care in the field of hematology. Drs. Hoffman and Press will receive their awards on Sunday, December 10, at the 59th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta.

Dr. Hoffman, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, will be presented with the 2017 ASH Mentor Award for decisively shaping the careers of 33 mentees, including physicians, physician-scientists, and basic scientists, many of whom have risen to positions of prominence within academic medical centers and have become mentors themselves. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Hoffman made sure his mentees could think critically and tackle any problem analytically and methodically. He challenged them to envision goals that would bring them satisfaction, and then helped lay out a path for them to achieve their objectives. Mentees report that Dr. Hoffman made everyone feel like an indispensable member of a major team by bringing together many researchers to collaborate and exchange research ideas. Dr. Hoffman has maintained relationships with countless mentees and former colleagues, and many of these relationships continue to exist in the form of ongoing research collaborations.

As a long-standing member and former president of ASH, Dr. Hoffman has served on the editorial board of Blood and on multiple committees, including the Program Committee and the Committee on Training. He served as editor of the journal Experimental Hematology and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine. He continues to be an editor of the text book Hematology Basic Principles and Practice. He also served as president of the International Society of Experimental Hematology. Dr. Hoffman has received several awards and honors, including the National Institutes of Health’s Research Career Development Award, The University of Illinois College of Medicine’s Distinguished Professor Award, and New York University School of Medicine’s Solomon A. Berson Medical Alumni Achievement Award. 

Dr. Press, Member and recipient of the Giuliani / Press Endowed Chair for Cancer Research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at University of Washington in Seattle, will be presented with a 2017 ASH Mentor Award for his long and consistent history of influencing the careers of mentees. Dr. Press has mentored more than 70 individuals since the 1980s, including undergraduates, medical students, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows. His commitment as a mentor can easily be seen in the impressive number of former trainees who have received career development grants and have gone on to become leaders in academic medicine and pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Press’ mentees uniformly cite his unparalleled generosity with his time and his dedication to mentorship activities as having played a large role in advancing their careers. He is also recognized for the value he places on work-life balance, personal connections, and professionalism.

Dr. Press has led his lymphoma section, research teams, coworkers, and mentees with conviction and dedication. Mentees have said he has a purpose and generosity in his mentoring and always told them, “Your success is my success.”

Dr. Press has been a member of ASH since 1995 and has served as an Associate Editor of Blood and on multiple committees, including the Program Committee and the Scientific Subcommittee on Lymphocytic Biology. Dr. Press is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the John Ultmann Award for Contributions to Lymphoma Research, the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award, Ellen Glesby Cohen Leadership Award, and Freundlich Leadership Award. He is the inaugural recipient of the Oliver W. Press Distinguished MSTP Alumnus Award, an award named in his honor that recognizes a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program. He has also received the Department of Medicine Mentorship Award from the University of Washington.

“ASH is thrilled to recognize Drs. Hoffman and Press for their outstanding mentorship, through which they have trained and inspired the future leaders of hematology,” said ASH President Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, of the Lebow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and Jerome Lipper Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “We honor their important role in upholding ASH’s strong tradition of hematology training by preparing future generations of mentors.” 

The American Society of Hematology (www.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. For more than 50 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, which is available weekly in print and online. In 2016, ASH launched Blood Advances (www.bloodadvances.org), an online, peer-reviewed open-access journal.

CONTACT:
Sara Khalaf, American Society of Hematology
[email protected]; 202-552-4925