Recognizing Champions of Waste Reduction
ASH recognized three Choosing Wisely® Champions during the 2018 annual meeting in San Diego.
Choosing Wisely, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, encourages clinicians to reduce overuse of tests, procedures, and treatments that may not benefit patients. The program recognizes clinicians who have implemented successful projects to improve quality at their institutions and advance the goals of the campaign.
The 2018 ASH Choosing Wisely Champions are:
Adam F. Binder, MD, Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Philadelphia
While he was an attending physician at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York, Dr. Binder and his colleagues developed an algorithm to guide antibiotic prescription use related to febrile neutropenia.
Ming Lim, MD, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston
Dr. Lim and colleagues implemented a hospitalwide protocol that coordinated testing and treatment of patients suspected to have heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, which led to a 70 percent reduction in the use of direct thrombin inhibitors.
Prakash Vishnu, MD, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida
Dr. Vishnu and his team investigated the theory that transfusing one unit of red blood cells instead of two would be appropriate for hemodynamically stable hospitalized adults undergoing myeloablative chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell rescue. Overall, there was no difference in time to engraftment between those who received additional red blood cells and those who did not.
Visit hematology.org/choosingwisely to learn more about the initiative.
And the 2019 ASH Scholar Awards Go To…
One of ASH's most prestigious award programs, the ASH Scholar Awards, financially support fellows and junior faculty as they transition from training programs to careers as independent hematology investigators. Each Scholar Award provides $100,000 for fellows and $150,000 for junior faculty over a two- to three-year period. The program funds hematologists in the U.S. and Canada who conduct basic, translational, or clinical research that furthers the understanding and treatment of blood disorders.
"The Scholar Award recipients … were chosen because ASH has confidence that their research is critical to hematology," said ASH President Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "They join an impressive community of former ASH Scholar Awards recipients who have gone on to publish thousands of papers, hold patents, and receive more than $1 billion in grants from various funding institutions."
The 2019 Scholar Awards recipients are:
Basic/Translational Research Fellows
- Tessa Barrett, PhD, New York University School of Medicine
- Sheng Cai, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Ryan Corces, PhD, Stanford University
- Nirav Dhanesha, PhD, University of Iowa
- Benjamin Durham, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Craig Forester, MD, PhD, University of California, San Francisco
- Christian Hurtz, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
- Victoria Mascetti, PhD, Stanford University
- Sol Schulman, MD, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- Elisa ten Hacken, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Ze Zheng, PhD, Columbia University
Basic/Translational Research Junior Faculty
- Joseph Aslan, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University
- Sergei Doulatov, PhD, University of Washington
- Ann-Kathrin Eisfeld, MD, The Ohio State University
- Jonathan Hoggatt, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Meixiao Long, MD, PhD, The Ohio State University
- Silvia Marino, PhD, Indiana University
- Julia Maxson, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University
- Ryan Morin, PhD, Simon Fraser University
- Esther Obeng, MD, PhD, Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Russell Ryan, MD, University of Michigan
- Sarah Sartain, MD, Baylor College of Medicine
- Ji Zhang, PhD, Indiana University
Clinical Fellows
- Pavan Bachireddy, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Kelly Bolton, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Clinical Junior Faculty
- Inhye Ahn, MD, National Institutes of Health
- Nicholas Short, MD, MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Moritz Stolla, MD, Bloodworks Northwest
- Anthony Sung, MD, Duke University
Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement
Marco Ruella, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, received the 2018 Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement. This award is made possible by the family of past ASH Scholar Award recipient and distinguished Society member Joanne Levy, MD, who passed away in 2004. It is presented to the current ASH Scholar with the highest-scoring abstract for the ASH annual meeting, as determined by the appointed abstract reviewers.
First Six ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines on VTE Available Now
ASH has long recognized the need for a comprehensive set of guidelines on the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Through a partnership with the McMaster University GRADE Centre, ASH brought together more than 100 experts, including hematologists, other specialists, guideline development experts, and patient representatives to synthesize the research and develop over 250 recommendations for this common, potentially fatal condition.
The first six chapters of the ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines on VTE have been published in Blood Advances and cover multiple aspects of VTE management, including:
- Anticoagulation therapy
- Diagnosis
- Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
- VTE in pediatrics
- VTE in pregnancy
- prophylaxis for medical patients
Four more chapters are in development:
- VTE associated with cancer
- VTE prophylaxis for surgical patients
- VTE in the setting of thrombophilia treatment
In addition, ASH has developed a number of tools and resources to enable clinicians to easily access the recommendations and the key takeaways, including mobile apps, webinars, teaching slides, and interviews with experts. Visit hematology.org/VTE to learn more, and access the full guidelines at bloodadvances.org/VTE.
ASH Seeks Next Congressional Fellow
ASH is now accepting applications for the ASH Congressional Fellowship Program. This yearlong opportunity will place a hematologist in a Congressional office to help shape health care and hematology policy. The Program is available for an ASH member starting in September 2019. For requirements, more information or to apply, visit hematology.org/congressionalfellowship.
The deadline to apply is January 31, 2019.
In 2017, ASH selected Catherine Zander, PhD, as the first participant of the program. Read about Dr. Zander's experiences in "Notes From the Hill."