UP FRONT awarded the first-ever Robert J . Arceci Innovation Award from St . Baldrick ’ s Foundation during the American Society of Pediatric Hematology / Oncology ( ASPHO ) conference .
The award was created in memory of Robert J . Arceci , MD , PhD , who served as director of the Children ’ s Center for Cancer and Blood Hematology and Oncology and was co-director of the Ronald A . Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine at Phoenix Children ’ s Hospital in Arizona . He was a member of the St . Baldrick ’ s board and chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee .
Each year , two award recipients will be chosen – one from the United States or Canada and the other internationally – and will receive $ 250,000 annually for three years , with no research restrictions other than to provide a reporting of results every six months .
Dr . Mullighan plans to use this award to research the genetic changes that cause cells to form tumors and why certain patients ’ cancer does not respond to targeted treatment .
Source : St . Baldrick ’ s Foundation press release , May 13 , 2016 .
ASH Selects 14 Medical Students for Minority Medical Student Award Program
The American Society of Hematology ( ASH ) announced the recipients of the 2016 Minority Medical Student Award Program ( MMSAP ), an eightto 12-week research experience for first- and second-year medical students from the United States and Canada .
The program encourages minority medical students who are interested in hematology by providing an opportunity to create and implement a hematology-related research project over the course of the summer . Participants are paired with two ASH mentors : an MMSAP research mentor who will oversee the participant ’ s work and progress during the summer project and a career-development mentor who will guide the participant throughout training .
Participants will receive $ 7,000 , which will go toward covering research projects and travel expenses to the 58th ASH Annual Meeting in December , where they will present their research projects during a special session .
The 14 students and their project titles are :
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Tokunbo Adeniyi , University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in Chicago , IL Life beyond sickle cell disease post-transplant : adults with SCD who had an AlloHSCT and their health-related quality of life
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Moriyike Akinosun , University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in Chicago , IL The exercise genomics study
College of Medicine in Columbus , OH Post pain symptoms in transplant patients with sickle cell disease
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Ramanjot Kang , Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton , OH The development of autoimmune diseases following HPA-1a alloimmunization in fetalneonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia ( FNAIT )
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Serina Lewis , Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington , DC Utilizing pathology informatics for subtyping diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
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Heardley Murdock , Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , PA Investigating DNA methylation to predict outcome in secondary acute myeloid leukemia
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Arinze Nwokeji , The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus , OH Identifying NuRD subunit protein domains Necessary for γ-globin Silencing
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Israel Orta , Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx , NY The role of red blood cell ( RBC ) endogenous nitric oxide production as a link between sickle cell RBC and vascular disease
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Violeta Osegueda , University of California , Irvine in Irvine , CA Effectiveness of tier platelet protocol implementation for critical intracranial hemorrhage
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Yasmin Rawlins , Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York , NY Racial and ethnic differences in toxicities of childhood ALL therapy
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Gabriel Washington , Stanford University in Stanford , CA Analysis of red blood cells after in vitro differentiation of HBB edited hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells
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Monica Williams , The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus , OH Elucidation of immune evasion by acute myeloid leukemia
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Carolyn Wright , Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , PA Defining the optimal approach for discontinuing plasma exchange in patients with acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura
Source : ASH press release , June 23 , 2016 .
ASH Selects Seven Fellows for Research Training Award
ASH announced the seven fellows selected for the 2016 ASH Research Training Award for Fellows ( RTAF ), a year-long program that aims to encourage careers in academic hematology by providing protected research time during training . Each awardee will receive $ 55,000 to support a hematology research project throughout the program ’ s duration – from July 1 , 2016 , to June 30 , 2017 .
The majority of the award money will support the recipient ’ s salary , with a percentage to be used for research supplies and ASH annual meeting attendance . Awards are targeted to two groups of researchers based on experience : a Junior Investigator award for second- and third-year fellows , and a Senior Investigator award for fourthand fifth-year fellows .
The seven fellows and their research topics are :
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Waitmann Aumann , MD , Duke University Hospital in Durham , NC CRM1 dimerization : A novel mechanism in CALM- AF10 leukemia
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Shruti Chaturvedi , MBBS , Vanderbilt University in Nashville , TN Alternate pathway of complement in adults with sickle cell disease and acute chest syndrome
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Gordon Cohen , MD , MPH , The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , MD Overcoming imatinib resistance in pediatric Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphocytic leukemia
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Anna Halpern , MD , University of Washington in Seattle , WA Developing and testing models to predict intensive care unit ( ICU ) admission and mortality for adults with acute myeloid leukemia ( AML )
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Sakiko Suzuki , MD , University of Massachusetts in Worcester , MA Novel therapy of leukemia through alternative splicing of MPL
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Justin Taylor , MD , Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York , NY Biological and mechanistic effects of XPO1 alterations in hematopoietic malignancies
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Amy Tang , MD , New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York , NY Transfusion-related iron overload and posttransplantation outcomes in a chemotherapybased mouse model of allogeneic stem cell transplant
Source : ASH press release , June 30 , 2016 .
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Kelsey Chatman , The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus , OH Evaluation of combination epigenetic therapeutics in mantle cell lymphoma
•• Austin Ikechi , The Ohio State University
And the Winner is …
For the second year , ASH Clinical News has won the APEX Award of General Excellence ! Congratulations to our editorial and production team !
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