ASH Directions
ASH Executive Committee
Election Results Revealed
On October 14, the American Society
of Hematology announced the election
of three new members to its Executive
Committee, the governing body of the
organization, for terms beginning after the
2015 ASH Annual Meeting December 5-8
in Orlando:
• Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, will
serve a one-year term as vice president, followed by successive terms as
president-elect and president.
• Steven L. Allen, MD, and Jane N.
Winter, MD, will each serve a fouryear term as councillor.
“Hematology is experiencing a period
of unprecedented growth as a result of
previous investments in research and new
technologies, as well as evolving insights
in the way we treat blood disorders. These
advances necessitate continued commitments to funding, training, and access to
care that will require thoughtful leadership,” said 2015 ASH President David A.
Williams, MD, president of Dana-Farber/
Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and professor of pediatrics at
Harvard Medical School. “I am delighted
to welcome Drs. Thompson, Allen, and
Winter and am excited about the diverse
perspectives they represent.”
Learn more about the newly elected members below.
Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, is
head of the hematology section
of the Division of
Hematology Oncology Transplantation
and director of the
Comprehensive
Thalassemia Program at Ann and Robert
H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago,
where she also serves as the A. Watson
and Sarah Armour Endowed Chair for
Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders.
Dr. Thompson is also associate director of
Equity and Minority Health at the Robert
H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
of Northwestern University. Her major
fields of interest include sickle cell disease,
thalassemia, transfusional iron overload,
and stem cell transplantation for pediatric
patients. In her position as vice president,
Dr. Thompson wants to enhance training
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ASH Clinical News
programs to attract the next generation of
scientists to hematology as well as increase
collaboration between ASH and global
partners to improve hematology care and
capacity around the world. Dr. Thompson
served as an ASH Councillor from 2010
through 2013 and is a member of the ASH
Sickle Cell Task Force. She has served as a
mentor for the Minority Medical Student
Award Program for more than 10 years and
is currently a reviewer for ASH’s journal,
Blood.
Jane N. Winter,
MD, is professor
of medicine in the
Division of Hematology/Oncology at the
Feinberg School of
Medicine of Northwestern University
in Chicago. She also
serves as a member of the Robert H. Lurie
Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Winter’s research interests include the clinical and biologic markers of prognosis in
diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and clinical
trials with novel agents in lymphoma. An
ASH member for more than 30 years, Dr.
Winter has recently served as chair of the
Committee on Educational Affairs as well
as faculty for the ASH Clinical Research
Training Institute and the ASH/European
Hematology Association Translational
Research Training in Hematology.
Medical Professionals in Developing Countries
Train With Hematologists in the Field
Nineteen hematologists and medical professionals have been selected to participate in the
ASH Visitor Training Program. Participating hematologists, researchers, and laboratory staff
from developing countries are granted the opportunity to receive up to 12 weeks of training
on a specific area of hematology from an ASH member located anywhere in the world. After
the program, participants return to their home institutions to implement their new skills
and knowledge, building hematology capacity in their countries and improving the care of
patients with blood diseases worldwide.
The ASH Visitor Training Program is offered to hematologists and scientists from developing countries at any level of their careers. This year’s program includes participants from 13
countries training in various areas of malignant and non-malignant hematology. Hematologists selected for the ASH Visitor Training Program are paired with a research mentor at their
host institution as well as a member of the ASH International Members Committee who is
charged with helping participants prepare for and evaluate their training program experience.
The 2015 Visitor Training Participants are:
• Ademola Adewoyin, MBBS, Benin, Nigeria: Transfusion medicine, specifically blood component
preparation, aphaeresis, and compatibility testing
Mentor: Gowthami Arepally, MD, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
• Faiq Ahmed, MBBS, MD, Hyderabad, India: Diagnosis and classification of lymphoproliferative
disorders
Mentor: Vishala Neppalli, MD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY
• Mafruha Akter, MBBS, FCPS, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT)
Mentor: Gary Schiller, MD, University of California – Los Angeles School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA
• Samir Bele, MBBS, MD, Karimnagar, India: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patient management
Mentor: Alex George, MD, PhD, Texas Children’s Hospital; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
• Halima Bello-Manga, MBBS, MPH, FMCPath, Kaduna, Nigeria: SCD patient management
Mentor: Adetola Kassim, MD, MS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
• Daniel Coriu, MD, PhD, Bucharest, Romania: Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients
Mentor: Mark Levis, MD, PhD, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
• Sharat Damodar, MD, DM, Bangalore, India: Haplo-identical and matched unrelated SCT
Mentor: Daniel Weisdorf, MD, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
• Silvia Fernández Martínez, MD, San Lorenzo, Paraguay: FISH and cytogenetics
Mentor: Fabiola Traina, MD, PhD, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
• Ana Glembotsky, PhD, Buenos Aires, Argentina: Molecular diagnosis of patients with inherited platelet disorders
Mentor: Nicole Casadevall, MD, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
• Obinna Iheanacho, MBBS, Benin, Nigeria: Donor and therapeutic apheresis
Mentor: Bruce Sachais, MD, PhD, New York Blood Center, New York, NY
Steven L. Allen, MD,
is associate chief of
hematology at the
Monter Cancer Center, North Shore-LIJ
Health System and
Professor of Medicine at Hofstra North
Shore-LIJ School of
Medicine in Hempstead, New York. Dr. Allen has maintained an active clinical practice and has been highly involved in the
Society’s practice initiatives for more than
30 years. He currently serves as chair of the
Committee on Practice and is a participant
in the ASH Practice Partnership program.
Dr. Allen received the ASH Outstanding
Service Award in 2006 for his leadership on
the ASH Pay-for-Performance Task Force.
• Mehreen Khan, MBBS, MCPS, FCPS, Rawalpindi, Pakistan: Haplo-identical BMT
Mentor: Qaiser Bashir, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
(Learn more about Dr. Allen in “Pulling
Back the Curtain” from our April 2015 issue: ashclinicalnews.org/steven-l-allen-md/)
• Cyprien Shyirambere, MD, Kigali, Rwanda: Diagnosis of AML, peripheral blood smear interpretation, and bone marrow biopsy interpretation
Mentor: Leslie E. Lehmann, MD, Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders
Center, Boston, MA ●
• Lan Luo, MD, Beijing, China: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia assay
Mentor: Demin Wang, PhD, Blood Research Institute and Blood Center of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
• Flordeluna Mesina, MD, Manila, Philippines: Development of disease registry for hematologic malignancies
Mentor: Jorge Cortes, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
• Chizoba Nwankwo, MBBS, Abuja, Nigeria: Preparation of blood components/products with
emphasis on apheresis
Mentor: Aleksander Mijovic, MBBS, PhD, FRCPath, King’s College Hospital, London, UK
• Matilda Ongóndi, MD, Nairobi, Kenya: Performance and interpretation of peripheral smears,
iron studies, and electrophoresis
Mentor: Anand Karnad, MD, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX
• Allan Pernudy, MD, Managua, Nicaragua: MRD detection by flow cytometry
Mentor: Martin A. Horstmann, MD, Children’s Cancer Center, Hamburg, Germany
• Victor Salinas, MD, Asunción, Paraguay: Allogeneic SCT
Mentor: David Gomez, MD, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Monterrey, México
• Jangbhadur Singh Sarna, MBBS, MD, Srinagar, India: Flow cytometry
Mentor: Vishala Neppalli, MD, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY
November 2015