UP FRONT
The Society Pages
Deborah Christian
(1962-2015)
Deborah Christian, publications manager at
the American Society of Hematology (ASH),
passed away on July 6. In her decade of employment at ASH, Deb held a variety of posi-
University of Florida Health
Cancer Center Appoints New
Director
Jonathan D. Licht, MD,
has been appointed
director of the University
of Florida Health Cancer
Center. His appointment
will be effective October 1.
Dr. Licht currently serves
as the associate director for clinical sciences
at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer
Center of Northwestern University in Chicago
and holds appointments in the Northwestern
University Feinberg School of Medicine as
the Johanna Dobe Professor of Hematology/
Oncology, chief of the division of hematology/oncology, and professor of biochemistry
and molecular genetics. Dr. Licht’s career in
cancer research spans nearly three decades,
including 25 years of funding from the
National Institutes of Health, the National
Cancer Institute, and other national foundations. Currently, he serves as chief scientific
officer of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, on the editorial boards of
numerous peer-reviewed cancer journals, and
as Councillor on ASH’s Executive Committee.
Dr. Licht outlined two goals for his term as
director: expanding the center’s basic and
translational cancer research and extending
investigator-initiated clinical trials.
to copyediting accepted work and everything
in between. She always demonstrated the
utmost reliability and diligence with regard to
her work, all while completing her Masters in
Communication. Deb was vivacious, bringing
with her a spirit of warmth and good cheer to
the ASH office year-round.
Rochester Medical Center, New York
to volunteer work on behalf of the bleeding
disorders community. Dr. Monahan serves as
attending physician at UNC’s Comprehensive Hemophilia Diagnostic and Treatment
Center and is also a member of the UNC Gene
Therapy Center and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
• Mid-Career Physician Award: Bruce E.
Condit, MD, FHM, medical director of
palliative care and an attending physician
at the Central Maine Medical Center and
medical director of Androscoggin Home
Care and Hospice, in Lewiston, Maine
The three Early-Career Physician Awards were
given to:
• Shaida Talebreza Brandon, MD,
FAAHPM, HMDC, a geriatrician and palliative care specialist at the George E.
Wahlen Salt Lake City Veterans Affairs
Medical Center and medical director of
Inspiration Hospice, a hospice and palliative care teaching site for the University
of Utah
• Mary K. Buss, MD, MPH, a medical oncologist and palliative medicine specialist
at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
in Boston, Massachusetts
• Laura M. Iglesias Lino, MD, medical
director for geriatrics and palliative care at
Brightwood Health Center and associate
medical director for hospice at Baystate
Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts
Source: University of Florida Health Cancer Center press release
Source: The Hastings Center press release
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Five Physicians Awarded
Hastings Center CunniffDixon Physician Awards
Paul Monahan Receives
National Hemophilia
Foundation Award
Each year, the Hastings Center awards the
Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards to physicians who have been exemplary in one or
more of four areas: medical practice, teaching, research, and community. This year’s
awards were given to five physicians in three
categories: a senior award and a mid-career
award of $25,000 each and three early-career
awards of $15,000 apiece.
• Senior Physician Award: David N. Korones, MD, professor of pediatrics, oncology, and neurology at the University of
ASHClinicalNews.org
tions. She provided outstanding support to a
host of various editors for Blood, the Image
Bank, and the ASH Self-Assessment Program
(ASH-SAP). She dealt with almost every facet
of the publication process for the various
publications she managed and supported –
from handling newly submitted manuscripts
Paul E. Monahan, MD, an
associate professor in the
department of pediatrics
in the division of hematology-oncology at the
University of North Carolina School of Medicine,
received the Leadership in Research Award
from the National Hemophilia Foundation. Dr.
Monahan was given the award for his accomplishments in scientific research – particularly
his work in AAV vectors in gene therapy for
factor IX deficiency and for his commitment
Source: University of North Carolina press release
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Scientists Receive $15.7 Million
to Develop Stem Cell Therapies
to Treat Blood Disorders
A group of scientists and transplant clinicians from the Ansary Stem Cell Institute at
Weill Cornell Medical College and the Center
for Cell Engineering at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has been awarded a
$15.7 million, four-year research grant from
the New York State Stem Cell Science Program (NYSTEM) to support their approach of
expanding and manipulating hematopoietic
stem cells to cure acquired and inherited
blood disorders. The consortium will conduct
two clinical trials using this platform: The
first uses the vascular niche to expand umbilical cord blood stem cells for transplantation in patients with blood cancers that cannot be cured by chemotherapy or available
donors; the second trial aims to correct the
genetic abnormality in blood stem cells from
patients with sickle cell
anemia and then return
these cells to the patients to supply healthy,
functioning stem cells.
Shahin Rafii, MD, director
of Ansary Stem Cell Institute and a professor of medicine, genetic
medicine and reproductive medicine at Weill
Cornell, and Joseph Scandura, MD, hematopoietic
stem cell physician-scientist and scientific director
of the Richard T. Silver,
MD Myeloproliferative
Neoplasm Center at Weill
Cornell, will serve as co-principal investigators on these trials.
Source: Weill Cornell Medical College press release
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