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American Society of Hematology Announces 2020 Scholar Award Recipients

(WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 19, 2019) – The American Society of Hematology (ASH) today announced the 39 recipients of its 2020 Scholar Awards. One of ASH’s most prestigious research award programs, the ASH Scholar Awards financially support fellows to junior faculty dedicated to careers in hematology research as they transition from training programs to careers as independent investigators. 

Each Scholar Award provides $100,000 for the Fellow level, $125,000 for the new Fellow to Faculty Scholars level, or $150,000 for the Junior Faculty level over a two- to three-year period. The program funds hematologists in the United States and Canada who conduct basic, transnational, and clinical research that furthers the understanding and treatment of blood disorders. 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 this year’s corporate supporters, AstraZeneca, Pharmacyclics LLC, and Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.

“For many scientists, attaining early funding for their research is a turning point, not only providing financial support but also showing that ASH believes in their potential to make impactful discoveries,” said 2020 ASH President Stephanie Lee, MD, MPH of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “For more than 30 years now, ASH has been supporting fellows and early career faculty with Scholar Awards. Recipients of these prestigious awards have gone on to distinguished careers, receiving more than $1 billion from various funding institutions and becoming leaders in our field. Congratulations to all the Awardees.”

The 2020 Scholar Awards recipients are:

Basic/Transnational Fellow

Benjamin Barwick, PhD Emory University
Atlanta, GA
Theodore Braun, MD, PhD Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR
Federico Gaiti, PhD Weill Cornell Medicine
New York, NY
Oluwabukola Gbotosho, PhD University of Pittsburgh                         
Pittsburgh, PA
Robert Lee, PhD The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Hojun Li, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA
Stephanie Luff, PhD Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Satish Nandakumar, PhD Boston Children's Hospital
Boston, MA
Abhishek Singh, PhD Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, OH
Alexandra Soukup, PhD University of Wisconsin—Madison
Madison, WI
Julia Warren, MD, PhD Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Seongseok Yun, MD, PhD H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Tampa, FL
Patricia Zerra, MD Emory University
Atlanta, GA

Basic/Translational Fellow to Faculty

Annamaria Gulla, MD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA
Rossella Marullo, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medicine
New York, NY
Idit Sagiv-Barfi, PhD Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Amanda Smith, PhD Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Erica Sparkenbaugh, PhD The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC
Anastasia Tikhonova, PhD New York University School of Medicine
New York, NY
Ly Vu, PhD Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Basic/Translational Junior Faculty

Michalis Agathocleous, PhD UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX
Wendy Beguelin, PhD Weill Cornell Medicine
New York, NY
Stephen Chung, MD UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX
Shannon Elf, PhD The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Hongxia Fu, PhD University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Siddhartha Jaiswal, MD, PhD Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Kellie Machlus, PhD The Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, MA
Anjali Mishra, PhD Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, PA
Andrew Yee, PhD Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX

Clinical Fellow

Hanny Al-Samkari, MD Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
Francesco Maura, MD Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research
New York, NY
Karolyn Oetjen, MD, PhD Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Akshay Sharma, MBBS St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Arlington, VA

Clinical Fellow to Faculty

Lena Winestone, MD University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Clinical Junior Faculty

David Bartlett, PhD Duke University
Durham, NC
Patrick McGann, MD Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, OH
Rakhi Naik, MD Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Jacquelyn Powers, MD Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX
Deborah Siegal, MD McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement

Nicholas J. Short, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, received the 2019 Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 61st ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando. This award was established in 2006 to recognize the current ASH Scholar with the highest scoring abstract for the ASH annual meeting. This award is given in honor of a past Scholar Award recipient and distinguished member of ASH, Joanne Levy, who passed away in 2004. This annual award is made possible by the Levy family to continue her legacy and promote excellence in hematology research.

Dr. Short was honored for his oral abstract (823), “Updated Results of a Phase II Study of Reduced-Intensity Chemotherapy with Mini-Hyper-CVD in Combination with Inotuzumab Ozogamicin, with or without Blinatumomab, in Older Adults with Newly Diagnosed Philadelphia Chromosome-Negative Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.”


The American Society of Hematology (ASH) (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 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, which is available weekly in print and online, as well as the newly launched, online, peer-reviewed open-access journal, Blood Advances (www.bloodadvances.org).

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

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