WALLACE H. COULTER AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN HEMATOLOGY

Wallace H. Coulter was a prolific inventor, innovator, and entrepreneur. His Coulter Principle pioneered the development of flow cytometry, defined particle characterization, and made possible automated hematology, thus revolutionizing laboratory medicine. The Coulter Counter led to major breakthroughs in science, medicine, and industry. This award, in his name, recognizes an individual who has demonstrated a lasting commitment to the field of hematology through outstanding contributions to education, research, and practice.

ASH will recognize Irving Weissman, MD, of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, with the 2022 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology. He has made monumental contributions to hematology over the past 56 years. As a trailblazer in cancer stem cell biology, he is best known for his research on hematopoiesis, leukemia, and hematopoietic stem cells.

Dr. Weissman's fascination with microbiology began at the age of ten after reading Microbe Hunters. The book taught him the role of microbes in vaccine development, and, more importantly, the principle that scientific discoveries can be translated for clinical use. Decades later, at Stanford University Medical School, Dr. Weissman worked in stem cell research. After graduation, his research journey continued: in 1988, his laboratory was the first to discover and isolate blood-forming stem cells from mice, and in 1992 he published the first isolation of human blood-forming stem cells. From there, the group began pivotal clinical trials for women with metastatic breast cancer. They developed a method to isolate the blood-forming stem cells free from the cancer cells, enabling these cells to be delivered back to patients after chemotherapy as treatment for the underlying disease. This discovery revolutionized the cancer community’s understanding of stem cells’ role in drug development. Dr. Weissman and colleagues later discovered that CD47, an age marker on red blood cells that scientists can use to detect emerging cancerous stem cells, could be targeted with blocking antibodies to treat blood cancers with low-dose azacytidine and drug-resistant lymphomas when paired with rituximab. Dr. Weissman’s work established hematopoietic stem cells as the paradigm for mammalian stem cell biology and transformed the way scientists and physicians approach blood cancers in the lab and clinic.

ASH MENTOR AWARD

The ASH Mentor Award was established to recognize hematologists who have excelled in mentoring trainees and colleagues. Each year the Society recognizes two outstanding mentors  who have had a significant, positive impact on their mentees' careers and, through their mentees, have advanced research and patient care in the field of hematology.

ASH will recognize Michael Caligiuri, MD, of City of Hope National Medical Center, with the 2022 ASH Mentor Award. He has dedicated much of his career to mentoring the next generation of physicians, scientists, and physician-scientists: over the last three decades, he has mentored more than 100 individuals and has had a profound impact on their careers. Dr. Caligiuri first realized his passion for mentorship after struggling in physiology class while in medical school. He searched for ways to break down complex concepts and developed his own lectures. After the chair of the department allowed him to deliver two of his lectures to first-year medical students, he saw the effect his teaching abilities had on fellow students; he received the highest evaluation scores among all the lecturers in the year-long course and continued to deliver the lectures for his remaining time in medical school. Dr. Caligiuri derives great satisfaction from giving educational and career advice based on his own 35-year journey in academic medicine and the excellent guidance he received throughout his career from his mentor, the late Clara D. Bloomfield, MD. He has played a critical role in supporting ASH’s Minority Medical Student award program (MMSAP) and has fostered the careers of many students who have pursued hematology professionally. He has made a special effort to foster diversity and inclusion in medicine by leading, along with his wife Ani, “Diversity, Dialogue and Dinner,” where Black medical students, physicians, and community leaders came together to discuss the inherent challenges they faced in their professional lives as a result of their race. Dr. Caligiuri’s own research focuses on exploring human natural killer cell biology and immune therapy for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.

ASH will recognize Christopher Flowers, MD, MS, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, with the 2022 ASH Mentor Award. He is a leading lymphoma provider and world-renowned epidemiology expert who has served as a research mentor and advocate for his mentees throughout their careers. Dr. Flowers is committed to recruiting and mentoring underrepresented minorities and co-developed the ASH Minority Recruitment Initiative (MRI), which provides a 13-year pathway of awards extending from the first year of medical school to faculty positions. Dr. Flowers first realized his passion for mentorship as a medical student, when he studied the work of a group of physicians who served as “clinical champions” and dramatically sped the process of drug development. This inspired Dr. Flowers to become a clinical champion himself. Later, his formative experiences with his own mentors through his residency and fellowships inspired him to pay such guidance forward. His formal mentoring roles have included sponsoring participants in the ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program, the ASH Amos Minority Faculty Development Program, and many other training programs. He also served as a faculty member and Co-Chair of the ASH Clinical Research Training Institute (CRTI). Dr. Flowers’ own clinical research has primarily focused on developing observational studies, which are now viewed as “real-world evidence,” and he currently leads a large multi-center cohort study in lymphoma.

ASH AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP IN PROMOTING DIVERSITY

The ASH Award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity honors hematologists who have supported the development of an inclusive hematology workforce, who have encouraged the career development of underrepresented minority trainees, who have made the commitment to inclusiveness in contributions to the mission of ASH, or who have made accomplishments that aim to eliminate health disparities in the care of hematology patients.

ASH will recognize James Gavin, MD, PhD, of Emory University School of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine, and David Wilkes, MD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, with the 2022 ASH Award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity. They are being honored for their decades of commitment to diversity in medicine through their leadership of the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Together they have contributed 28 years of service to the program and continue to serve as eminent leaders in their respective fields. Since 1983, AMFDP has supported 330 scholars, many of whom have gone on to be professors, department chairs, and leaders at the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Gavin has participated in AMFDP for 39 years and served as director for 20 years. His contributions were instrumental in shaping the ASH-AMDFP partnership to increase diversity in hematology. Early in his career, he became fascinated with diabetes, a disease that had affected his family and continues to affect African American populations disproportionately. He devoted his life’s research to uncovering ways to improve diabetes outcomes. Beyond his own research, Dr. Gavin served as a role model for many medical trainees. Through AMFDP, he learned how influential mentorship could be on student success. He guided many students and trainees through their medical careers and is devoted to helping underrepresented students in medicine overcome systemic barriers to entry. Dr. Gavin’s most notable accomplishments include serving as the first African American president of the American Diabetes Association, the president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, and a senior science officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Scholars program. He has made unparalleled contributions to medicine through his pioneering research in diabetes, leadership, advocacy, and, most notably, his dedication to advancing the careers of students, trainees, and physician-scientists.

Dr. Wilkes has served as the national director of AMFDP since 2013 and has given several national presentations and published many studies on eliminating bias and reducing discrimination in health professions. He is a leading physician and scientist who has made significant contributions to immunology and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. As a pulmonologist and critical care physician, he focuses on research to uncover what drives the immunology of lung transplant rejections. Throughout his career, Dr. Wilkes and his colleagues have worked to understand the mechanisms behind graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). Their work led to the development of a drug for pulmonary fibrosis, the endpoint of lung transplant rejection caused by GVHD. Dr. Wilkes is motivated to promote diversity in hematology because of the profound ways that unique perspectives improve academic medicine and increase cultural competency in patient care.

2022 ASH ADVOCACY AWARDS

The ASH Advocacy Awards provide an opportunity for ASH to continue to build relationships with congressional and federal agency champions of health care. The ASH Public Service Award recognizes and honors an elected public official who has served as an effective advocate for government support of biomedical research and hematology practice. The ASH Outstanding Service Award is awarded to individuals in either the public or private sector who have displayed effective behind-the-scenes leadership in areas relevant to the mission of the Society.

ASH will recognize Keith Hoots, MD, of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and Senators Jacky Rosen, John Barrasso, and Tammy Baldwin for the 2022 ASH Advocacy Awards.

ASH Outstanding Service Award

Dr. Keith Hoots, of the Director of the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), will be recognized with the 2022 ASH Outstanding Service Award.  Dr. Hoots has been a tireless advocate for hematology research. He joined NHLBI in 2009 after working at the University of Texas (UT) Medical School at Houston in a number of important roles: professor of pediatrics and division head of pediatric hematology; section head of pediatric hematology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center; and medical director, Gulf States Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Treatment Center. Under the leadership of Dr. Hoots, the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources has continued to be a leader in research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of non-neoplastic blood diseases through the launch of efforts such as the Cure Sickle Cell Initiative and the development of programs to support the workforce in nonmalignant hematology. Additionally, Dr. Hoots has provided updates on NHLBI’s hematology efforts at Committee on Government Affairs meetings, served as an author in ASH publications, and participated in many of the Society’s programs and activities.

ASH Public Service Award 

Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will be recognized with the 2022 ASH Public Service Award. 

Senator Rosen is the author and lead sponsor of the Improving Access to Transfusion Care for Hospice Patients Act of 2021 (S. 2566). The legislation, which was introduced in July 2021 and is strongly supported by ASH, seeks to ensure that patients with blood cancers and other hematologic diseases and conditions receive high-quality end-of-life care by establishing a demonstration program that would provide a separate payment model to promote the provision of palliative blood transfusions in hospice. This would ensure Medicare payments for blood transfusions outside the hospice bundled payment.

Senators Barrasso and Baldwin, who serve as co-chairs of the Senate Comprehensive Care Caucus with Senator Rosen, joined her in introducing the Improving Access to Transfusion Care for Hospice Patients Act of 2021.