ASH Announces First Round of Research Restart Awardees
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has announced the names of 19 early-career investigators who will receive critical funding, up to $50,000 each, through the ASH Research Restart Award. The award was developed by the Society to support the resumption of high-impact research that was disrupted by the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Open to applicants worldwide, the ASH Research Restart Award is designed to support one year of research – including salaries, supplies, training, research expenses, and publication fees – so investigators can resume their work on crucial, cutting-edge hematologic studies.
"The ASH Research Restart Award offers a necessary lifeline for promising biomedical researchers facing unprecedented disruption due to COVID-19 that has led to impaired productivity, lost momentum, and uncertain professional futures," said ASH President Martin S. Tallman, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. "At this time when the pandemic has underscored the vital importance of science and public health, ASH remains committed to supporting researchers as they work to advance both."
The projects supported by the ASH Research Restart Award include basic, translational, and clinical hematology research, including work that will enhance the understanding and treatment of venous thromboembolism, sickle cell disease, graft-versus-host disease, multiple myeloma, and other blood conditions. The recipients of the first ASH Research Restart Award cycle are:
- Frederick Allen, PhD, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
- Theodore Braun, MD, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University
- Sisi Chen, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Nirav Dhanesha, PhD, University of Iowa
- Sarah Ducamp, PhD, Boston Children's Hospital
- Patrick Ellsworth, MD, University of North Carolina
- Md Kamrul Hasan, PhD, University of California San Diego
- Christian Hurtz, PhD, The University of Pennsylvania
- Thomas Koehnke, MD, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Prerna Malaney, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Maria Maryanovich, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- Coraline Mlynarczyk, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine
- Danitza Nebor, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
- Simone Riedel, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Maria Guillamot Ruano, PhD, PharmD, NYU Langone Medical Center
- Christian Schürch, MD, PhD, University of Tübingen, Germany
- Claudio Scuoppo, PhD, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Natthakan Thongon, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Matthew Witkowski, PhD, New York University School of Medicine
Learn more about the ASH Research Restart Award at hematology.org/research-restart. Letters of intent for the next award cycle are due April 16.
Now Available at No Cost: ASH Annual Meeting Special Scientific Session on Race and Science
ASH continues its long-standing commitment to building and nurturing a global hematology community and workforce inclusive of diverse perspectives, talents, and experiences. As a part of these efforts, the Society has made the Special Scientific Session on Race and Science presented at the 62nd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition accessible to all at no cost.
The session was developed to raise awareness about systemic racism in research and ensure that the field of hematology is positioned to conduct high-level, cutting-edge science driven by a diverse community. Alan E. Mast, MD, PhD, opens the full-length recording of the session with an introduction that touches on his own personal experience coming to grips with bias as a white parent of African American children. The highlighted presentations follow:
- Wally R. Smith, MD, focuses on the history of racial disparities in America as it relates to health care. He introduces an assessment tool (Intercultural Development Inventory) that can teach individuals about health disparities and how to eliminate them.
- Lachelle Weeks, MD, PhD, addresses the value of diversity in fostering scientific innovation. She highlights key recommendations that researchers can take to enhance inclusion in fundamental research and medicine.
Watch the video and learn more about ASH's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at hematology.org/DEI.
2020 ASH Annual Report Now Available!
With the help of its community of members, volunteers, staff, and supporters, ASH met the unprecedented challenges of 2020 with a strong and coordinated response. It included the rapid development of resources for hematologists battling COVID-19, a renewed commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in the health care community, and the embrace of remote technologies that enabled the Society to remain productive and support a successful all-virtual annual meeting.
Behind the scenes, ASH continued its work of supporting hematologists – particularly those trainees and young investigators most vulnerable in this time – maintaining global programs and advocacy efforts, developing clinical practice guidelines including guidelines related to COVID-19, presenting innovative webinars and virtual training programs, and sustaining funding levels for all ASH awards.
Read about these and other initiatives in the Society's 2020 Annual Report at annual-report.hematology.org.