ASH Honors 2026 Leaders in Hematology With Most Prestigious Awards

Elliott Vichinsky, MD, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals
Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology

Dr. Vichinsky, a physician-scientist, is being recognized for his work transforming the care, understanding, and treatment of hemoglobin disorders, including sickle cell disease and thalassemia. He has been a pioneer in the field for more than 40 years, and his contributions have fundamentally altered clinical practice and public health policy to improve patient outcomes worldwide.

Dr. Vichinsky’s commitment to sickle cell disease began during his training in the late 1970s, when he witnessed the profound disparities in care faced by individuals living with the disease. Determined to improve outcomes, he established one of the nation’s earliest comprehensive lifespan sickle cell disease programs. His dedication to improving care continued at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in Oakland, California, where he and his colleagues developed the Hemoglobinopathy Reference Laboratory, which has become one of the largest and most comprehensive newborn screening and diagnostic programs for hemoglobin disorders. Dr. Vichinsky played a key role in establishing California’s universal newborn screening program for sickle cell disease and the nation’s first statewide universal screening program for alpha thalassemia.

Dr. Vichinsky has an extensive research portfolio and has made many significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of sickle cell disease and alpha thalassemia. Among these accomplishments, he demonstrated progressive neurocognitive decline in asymptomatic individuals living with sickle cell disease; played a leading role in the development of disease-modifying therapies, including L-glutamine and voxelotor for sickle cell disease and pyruvate kinase activators for alpha thalassemia; and developed prenatal and fetal therapeutic approaches to alpha thalassemia major.

One of his most notable scientific contributions is defining the causes, natural history, and clinical outcomes for acute chest syndrome, a leading cause of mortality in sickle cell disease. He built much of the clinical and research infrastructure that supports modern hemoglobinopathy investigation.

Throughout his career, Dr. Vichinsky has been a fierce advocate for patients with hemoglobin disorders and health equity, as well as a dedicated mentor to the next generation of hematologists. He remains actively engaged in research, including studies of long-term outcomes associated with sickle cell trait, iron overload and chelation therapy in alpha thalassemia major, and novel approaches to improve bone health in sickle cell disease.

Leon Bernal-Mizrachi, MD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Roland B. Scott-Charles Drew Excellence in Equity Award

Dr. Bernal-Mizrachi, a physician-scientist, is being celebrated for his longstanding dedication to recruiting and supporting the next generation of hematologists from historically disadvantaged groups and improving access to high-quality care in underserved patient communities. For nearly a decade, he served as an integral member of ASH’s Committee on Advancing Excellence and Population Health, where he founded and chaired the ASH Ambassador Program, which seeks to spark medical students’ interest in hematology. Dr. Bernal-Mizrachi has contributed extensively to initiatives focused on strengthening inclusion in medicine, including efforts to improve clinical trial diversity in lymphoma and myeloma research. He brings a global perspective to his work and believes that a medical community reflecting different backgrounds and experiences is essential to driving novel, transformative thinking and innovation that improve outcomes for all patients.

Roy Silverstein, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin and Versiti Blood Research Institute
J. Evan Sadler Award for Mentorship 

Dr. Silverstein, 2019 ASH President and a classical hematologist focused on platelet biology and vascular disease, is being recognized for the profound impact his mentorship has had in preparing emerging hematologists for success. Throughout his career, he has guided trainees at various career stages — including undergraduates, PhD candidates, and fellows — with mentorship marked by generosity, accessibility, and teaching by example. Dr. Silverstein believes that every opportunity to connect with mentees matters, even if it is just 15 minutes shared over a cup of coffee between meetings. Because of his support, his mentees have gone on to secure competitive awards and appointments, provide exceptional care to their patients, produce groundbreaking research, and contribute to the advancement of the field through leadership roles in academia, community practices, and industry.  

Laura De Castro, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Bernard Forget Award for Mentorship

Dr. De Castro is being honored for her commitment to lifelong, hands-on mentorship for the next generation of classical hematologists, especially those passionate about improving care for individuals living with sickle cell disease. Her interest in mentorship began when she was a high school student and tutored members of her community in the Dominican Republic. Guided by the support of her own mentors and role models — including her parents, who both worked in medicine, and Bernard Forget, MD — Dr. De Castro developed a mentorship philosophy grounded in advocacy, professional ethics, and work-life balance. Her mentees have gone on to establish fulfilling careers, make meaningful contributions to the field of hematology, and improve care and health outcomes for patients worldwide.

Stella Chou, MD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia 
William Dameshek Prize 

Dr. Chou, a classical hematologist and clinician-scientist, is being recognized for her outstanding contributions to transfusion medicine and alloimmunization (immune system reactions to blood transfusions) in individuals living with sickle cell disease. She spearheaded research demonstrating that variant Rh antigens on the red blood cells of individuals with sickle cell disease are a major driver of alloimmunization, leading to new insights that have improved transfusion safety. She has also pioneered work on the development of lab-grown “designer” red blood cells to enable precise detection of challenging Rh antibodies, improving donor-recipient matching, and led the development of ASH clinical practice guidelines on transfusion support for sickle cell disease. Together, her research and advocacy have been practice-changing, advancing precise transfusion through innovative diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Her many contributions to the field have advanced safer, more effective transfusion practices and improved care for individuals with blood disorders.

Benjamin Levine Ebert, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Janet Rowley Basic Science Medal

Dr. Ebert, a clinician-scientist, is being honored for transformative contributions to the understanding and treatment of blood cancers and precancers. His research identified the mechanism of action for thalidomide, lenalidomide, and related molecules for multiple myeloma and a subtype of myelodysplastic syndromes. This work paved the way for drugs that act as molecular glues to target proteins for degradation, enabling a new suite of therapeutics under development. Dr. Ebert led efforts to discover and characterize a key gene, RPS14, as the driver of a subtype of myelodysplastic syndromes. He also characterized the genetics and clinical significance of clonal hematopoiesis (overproduction of cloned, genetically mutated blood cells), showing that it is not only a common precancer state linked to blood cancers, but also a driver of cardiovascular disease and inflammatory diseases. His foundational discoveries have directly translated into significant clinical advances for patients, reshaping the field of hematology.

Andrew Roberts, MBBS, PhD, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne
Helen M. Ranney Clinical and Translational Science Medal

Dr. Roberts, a physician-scientist and editor-in-chief of Blood, is being honored for his transformative research contributions to the understanding and treatment of leukemias and lymphomas. He was at the forefront of developing BH3 mimetics (a class of cancer cells that target cell death) for clinical practice, providing some of the earliest evidence demonstrating the potential of targeting the protein BCL2 to treat hematologic malignancies. Building upon this work, he codeveloped and led clinical trials on BH3 mimetics, including the first in-human clinical trial of venetoclax and first venetoclax combination trials for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lymphoma. His pioneering research established a novel class of targeted therapies, BCL2 inhibitors, which have fundamentally reshaped the treatment landscape for patients with hematologic malignancies.

Suzanne Cory, PhD, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Marina Konopleva, MD, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize

This lecture and prize recognizes the outstanding efforts of Drs. Cory and Konopleva in advancing the understanding and treatment of leukemias and lymphomas. Dr. Cory’s groundbreaking research on cell death was fundamental in the development of BH3 mimetics to treat hematologic malignancies, while Dr. Konopleva’s focus on targeting key BCL2 proteins advanced novel leukemia therapies.

Dr. Cory, recipient of the Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize in basic science, is being honored for her seminal work identifying the gene BCL2 as the first enabler of cell survival, together with her partner in life and science, Professor Jerry Adams, PhD, and Professor David Vaux, PhD, then a student in their lab. This research paved the way for a new class of targeted cancer drugs, BH3 mimetics, to block the action of BCL2.

Dr. Konopleva, recipient of the Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize in clinical science, is being recognized for her pioneering research targeting the genes BCL2 and BCLXL with small molecule inhibitors and degraders. She has characterized mechanisms of resistance to BCL2 inhibitors and identified novel combinations with immune therapies and signaling inhibitors. A physician-scientist, Dr. Konopleva has led multiple translational projects that have brought targeted agents from the laboratory to clinical trials.

Together, the research contributions of Drs. Cory and Konopleva helped lay groundwork for the subsequent development of venetoclax, the first BCL2 inhibitor to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since its accelerated approval for chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2016, venetoclax has also been approved to treat acute myeloid leukemia and small lymphocytic lymphoma, establishing a new standard of care and offering patients improved outcomes.

Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 
E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize 

Dr. Armstrong, a physician-scientist, is being celebrated for transformative contributions to the understanding and treatment of leukemias. His seminal research demonstrated that MLL(KMT2A)-rearranged leukemias exhibit a unique gene expression signature and defined the cells of origin and epigenetic mechanisms that drive development of multiple leukemia subtypes. This work enabled identification of new therapeutic approaches for KMT2A-rearranged, NUP98-rearranged, and NPM1-mutant leukemias, including menin inhibitors (a targeted cancer therapy that turns off genetic signals driving cancer growth). His extensive research directly led to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of menin inhibitors for KMT2A-rearranged and NPM1-mutant leukemias, representing a novel cancer therapy class and expanding treatment options for countless patients.

Peihua ‘Peggy’ Lu, MD, Lu Daopei Medical Group
Ham-Wasserman Lecture

Dr. Lu, a physician-scientist, will present the Ham-Wasserman Lecture to discuss her innovative contributions to advancing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy for blood cancers. She played a key role in launching the first CAR-T clinical trials across private hematology hospitals in China, building research infrastructure in settings with a high burden of hematologic malignancies. Dr. Lu has led multiple CAR-T clinical trials targeting the genes CD19, CD22, BCMA, and CD7. Her work on CD7, a transformative immunotherapeutic approach for relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma, has enabled treatment of hundreds of critically ill patients. Through her leadership, CAR-T therapy is extending beyond B-cell cancers into the challenging field of T-cell cancers, offering new treatment options for patients with aggressive blood diseases.