Barry S. Coller, MD
Dr. Barry Coller is well known for his research in platelet physiology. His studies of the rare platelet disorder Glanzmann thrombasthenia, which is associated with excessive bleeding, and his development of monoclonal antibodies to the GPIIb/IIIa receptor led to the development of the antiplatelet drug abciximab, a derivative of one of those antibodies, in collaboration with scientists at Centocor. Originally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1994, it is now used worldwide to prevent complications of coronary interventions such as angioplasty and stent insertion in patients with cardiovascular disease. For his scientific achievements, Dr. Coller was awarded the Stratton Medal in 2005 and membership in both the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves as the David Rockefeller Professor of Medicine, the Vice President for Medical Affairs, and the Head of the Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology at Rockefeller University in New York, as well as Physician-in-Chief of the Rockefeller University Hospital.

Aaron J. Marcus, MD
Dr. Aaron J. Marcus has been a mentor and pioneering scientist in hemostasis, coagulation, thrombosis, and vascular biology for 52 years. He isolated and characterized every lipid of human platelets. He also demonstrated the coagulation-promoting properties of isolated human platelet function by acetyl salicylic acid. His studies of the role of eicosanoids in hemostasis and thrombosis led to the concepts of cell-cell interactions and transcellular metabolism. Dr. Marcus and his colleagues initially discovered AIDS in the form of Kaposi’s sarcoma. Among his landmark publications are “The Physiology of Blood Platelets” with Dr. Marjorie Zucker and his historic review “Platelet Function” in three consecutive issues of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Samuel I. Rapaport, MD
Dr. Samuel Rapaport, an internist and clinical hematologist, is also a medical researcher who has spent his research career studying the field of hemostasis. In 1961, he developed the activated partial thromboplastin time test, which remains one of the most-used hematologic tests to this day. Also, because of the specificity, lack of sensitivity, and high cost of certain blood tests, in 1983, Dr. Rapaport proposed a system for categorizing patients into four distinct levels of hematologic care to determine which patients would best benefit from laboratory screenings for various bleeding and coagulation disorders – a clinical strategy that is still relevant in modern medicine. A member of ASH since its earliest days, Dr. Rapaport became president of the organization in 1977 and earned a Stratton Medal in 1984. Currently, Dr. Rapaport is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of California in San Diego.