John Hawley

Call for nominations, 2021 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award

Posted on by John Hawley

Nominations for the ASCI’s 2021 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award are now open. The recognition, first called the ASCI Award, was renamed in 2006 in honor of Dr. Korsmeyer, the first recipient of the Award in 1998, who passed away in 2005. The Korsmeyer Award recognizes individuals for their advancement of knowledge in a specific field and mentoring of future generations of life science researchers. Information on all past honorees is available here.

Nominees for the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award must be ASCI members who are 55 years of age or younger as of January 1, 2021. They shall have made significant contributions to biomedical science and shall have adhered to the principles of scientific excellence that the ASCI exemplifies. The nominee should have a record that reflects high standards of intellectual integrity, a deep and abiding respect for the community of biomedical scientists, and a strong commitment to mentoring the next generation of physician-scientists. Prior nominees may be re-nominated. However, current ASCI Council members and prior Award recipients may not be nominated.

Nominations consist of:

  • a summary of the nominee’s accomplishments (in plain text, not to exceed 250 words),
  • a brief NIH biosketch (as a PDF),
  • a full curriculum vitae, including all publications and invited lectures (as a PDF),
  • and a trainee table (preferred as a PDF).

Nominations must be submitted by ASCI members through their online accounts.

The deadline for nominations is September 18, 2020, at 11:59 PM Eastern.

Nominations for 2021 membership

Posted on by John Hawley

Nominations for 2021 membership may be submitted through September 14, 2020, 11:59 pm Eastern. Proposers and supporters of nominations should review the Membership Nomination Guide carefully. Questions regarding nominations should be sent by email to staff@the-asci.org.

  • Membership Nomination Guide (PDF). This document should be reviewed for details about the process and to ensure a complete nomination. Note: The separate nomination form required in previous cycles has been eliminated, and the information is now requested during the online nomination process.
  • Membership Nomination Support Template (for use by Seconders and General Supporters; Word document). This document provides a template for drafting nomination support. However, members are encouraged to submit scores and comments through their member accounts (this template matches the online form).

Submitting nominations

To ensure proper tracking of nominations, all information and documents must be supplied online.

  • To begin, access your member account
  • After you have logged in to your account, select the “Nominations” tab, then search the nominee database. Links will appear in search results to guide you in the next steps.
  • Your nominee may already be in the ASCI database because the person was previously nominated or because a nomination or support form has been started for this nomination cycle.

Proposers: Proposers are responsible for ensuring that all information provided for the nomination is accurate and complete. New this cycle: Proposers may grant access to nominees to edit certain sections of the nomination. See the Membership Nomination Guide for details.

In their accounts, Proposers are able to identify those serving as Seconder and General Supporters of the nomination, although supporters need to provide comments via their own member accounts.

ASCI staff sends acknowledgment of submissions by email after they have been reviewed and found to be complete. Proposers can check the status of their submissions (nominations and support forms) online by accessing their member accounts.

Seconder and General Supporters: To draft and complete forms online, select the nominee from search results; or add the requested information about the nominee you are supporting. (General Supporters who are not ASCI members may complete the nomination support template and email it to staff@the-asci.org for handling.)

Further clarification

  • Age criterion for Active and Foreign Associate nominees. Nominees in these categories must be age 50 or younger as of January 1, 2021.
  • Exceptions to the age criterion cannot be made. Although the ASCI Council understands that a nominee’s progress may have been delayed because of unavoidable or extreme circumstances, the Council has on multiple occasions discussed exceptions and concluded from each discussion that no policy could be implemented fairly and durably.
  • Limit on number of nominations per nominee. The number of nominations per nominee is limited to 3, provided the nominee is age 50 or younger as of January 1, 2021.
  • Limit on number of nominations proposed, seconded, or supported. There is no limit to the number of nominations a member may propose or support (either as Seconder or General Supporter).
  • PhD-only candidates. Active and Foreign Associate nominations are, per the ASCI’s bylaws, restricted to physicians.
  • MD-equivalent candidates are eligible for nomination.
  • Faculty appointment versus nominee’s country of residence. The distinction between Active and Foreign Associate nominations is made on the basis of residence, not faculty appointment. Active nominees must reside in the US or Canada. Candidates residing elsewhere should be nominated in the Foreign Associate category.

ASCI statement on diversity, inclusion, and equity

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Dear ASCI members,

In the past several weeks, issues of systemic racism and inequality have been brought into sharp focus. While much of the discussion has centered on police violence against African Americans and other people of color, these events do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they occur in a continuum of politics, policies, and practices that have served to suppress whole categories of people. The mission of the ASCI is to support the scientific efforts, educational needs, and clinical aspirations of physician-scientists to improve the health of all people. Racial injustice and discrimination in any form undermine this mission by negatively impacting safety, freedom, health equity, and opportunity for our patients, trainees, colleagues, and members. 

In recognition of the central importance of equality, diversity, inclusion, and equity to our mission, we have made the following immediate and specific plans:

  1. Establish a permanent Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Committee through proposed amendment of the ASCI bylaws.
  2. Charge the ASCI Council and its Executive Committee to support the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Committee with the following:
    1. Ensure that all ASCI programs emphasize diversity, inclusion, and equity
    2. Establish a mentoring network for physician-scientists that is focused on opportunities for underrepresented minorities
    3. Consider how the ASCI can better recognize and promote research into health equity

As we undertake these steps, we recognize that we do not have all of the answers. We are committed to making progress to address these challenging issues within our own community, and we welcome comments, ideas, and volunteers who would like to contribute to these efforts.  If you are interested, please email me (Lorraine.ware@vumc.org) or Executive Director John Hawley (john.hawley@the-asci.org).

Sincerely,

Lorraine B. Ware, MD
2020-2021 President, ASCI

On behalf of:
The ASCI Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion
The ASCI Council

 

 

Recipient of the 2020 Seldin~Smith Award for Pioneering Research: Andrew A. Lane, MD, PhD

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Picture of Andrew A. Lane, MD, PhD
Dr. Lane

The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) is pleased to announce Andrew A. Lane, MD, PhD, as the recipient of the 2020 Donald Seldin~Holly Smith Award for Pioneering Research. Dr. Lane will receive an unrestricted award of $30,000 to advance his academic efforts and will deliver a scientific talk at the 2021 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting.

Dr. Lane’s research has centered on understanding the drivers of blood-cell transformation to leukemia and on developing therapies. In particular, his laboratory studies acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL), and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Dr. Lane’s work along with that of collaborators led to multicenter clinical trials for several treatment candidates for BPDCN, resulting in US Food and Drug Administration approval of tagraxofusp – the first treatment approved for the disease. Subsequently, Dr. Lane determined how BPDCN becomes resistant to tagraxofusp and is leading an effort to overcome this resistance through combination therapy. Through his research on patients with BPDCN, Dr. Lane found a genetic mutation in males only, inspiring subsequent research on identifying other mutations in tumor-suppressor genes with a similar sex bias, which may yield further insight into sex-biased cancers and other diseases.

“It is no small feat to lead one of the first prospective, multicenter trials in BPDCN, let alone amass sufficient patient samples to make headway in this rare disease,” David M. Weinstock, MD, wrote in support of Dr. Lane’s nomination. “He is making basic discoveries, translating them into trials that he leads and then taking samples from patients to iteratively advance better combinations or other strategies. To me, that is the definition of a great physician-scientist.”

Dr. Lane earned his MD and PhD degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently did an internship and residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, followed by a clinical fellowship in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a fellowship in hematology and oncology in the Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare Fellowship Program. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Physician in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research has been supported in part by the National Cancer Institute. 

Dr. Lane was selected from a group of exceptional applicants evaluated by the Seldin~Smith Award Selection Committee: Mukesh K. Jain (Chair), Vivian G. Cheung, Charles L. Sawyers, Elizabeth M. McNally, and Stuart H. Orkin. Finalists were evaluated by an Advisory Committee comprising five physician-scientist luminaries: Joseph L. Goldstein (Chair), Michael S. Brown, Robert J. Lefkowitz, Christine Seidman, and Arthur Weiss.

The Seldin~Smith Award complements two prestigious ASCI awards (the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award and the Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine) that recognize senior physician-scientists who have made major contributions to science, mentorship, and translation of discovery to clinical impact.

The goal of the Seldin~Smith Award is to connect exceptionally creative early-career physician-scientists with the legacies of two iconic figures in medicine: Donald Seldin and Lloyd “Holly” Smith Jr. Drs. Seldin and Smith, who both passed away in 2018, provided the inspiration for this Award through their storied careers of developing generations of outstanding physician-scientists.

The 2020 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine: Stuart H. Orkin, MD

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Harrington Discovery Institute and The American Society for Clinical Investigation honor Dr. Orkin for his contributions to red blood cell biology

Dr. Orkin

The seventh annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been awarded to Stuart H. Orkin, MD, the David G. Nathan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, and The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.

Dr. Orkin is being recognized for breakthrough discoveries on red blood cells that offer new treatments for patients with sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, which are among the most common genetic disorders.

Sickle cell disease (SCD), which was called the first molecular disease by Linus Pauling in 1949, is due to a mutation in the DNA encoding the beta-globin chain of hemoglobin, the molecule in red blood cells that carries oxygen and delivers it to tissues. In SCD, normal disc-like red blood cells become rigid and sickle shaped due to abnormal polymerization of sickle hemoglobin. Red cells get stuck in small blood vessels, thereby cutting off blood flow and leading to tissue damage and intense pain (a “sickle crisis”). SCD affects about 75,000 in the U.S. and millions of people throughout the world.

In SCD the adult form of hemoglobin is affected. A fetal form of hemoglobin, which is shut-off shortly after birth, is normal. Dr. Orkin discovered how the switch between fetal and adult hemoglobin is controlled, solving a longstanding mystery and suggesting new ways to reactivate normal fetal hemoglobin. Specifically, the Orkin laboratory showed that the gene BCL11A turns off fetal hemoglobin. By blocking BCL11A, fetal hemoglobin expression can be restored in the adult, offering a potential cure. In genetically engineered SCD mice, removal of BCL11A corrected red blood cell production. At Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Orkin’s colleague David A. Williams, MD, has translated these findings to patients in a gene therapy trial in which BCL11A expression is blocked. Dramatic clinical results in the first patients have validated BCL11A as a target for therapy. Promising preliminary findings of company-sponsored gene editing trials with BCL11A as a target have also been reported.

“The sickle cell community has been energized by this discovery, which is a complete game-changer for a large group of people living with SCD. Dr. Orkin’s work has paved the way for testing a gene therapy approach, and potentially other approaches, to treat this debilitating disease,” said W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Interim Chair, Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Cornelius Abernathy Craig Professor of Medicine, and 2019-2020 President of the ASCI.

“Dr. Orkin is an extraordinary investigator and a dominant force in the fields of hematology and genetic disease. His discovery of BCL11A as a master regulator of hemoglobin gene switching, and his pursuit of application in sickle cell disease, is a prime example of how fundamental discovery can be leveraged for clinical impact,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute and Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Innovation at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. 

A committee composed of members of the ASCI Council and the Harrington Discovery Institute Scientific Advisory Board reviewed nominations from leading academic medical centers from four countries before selecting the 2020 recipient.

In addition to receiving a $20,000 honorarium, the Harrington Prize recipient delivers The Harrington Prize Lecture at the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, publishes an essay in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and speaks at the Harrington Scientific Symposium in Cleveland.

Dr. Orkin is the David G. Nathan Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a principal faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and an associate of the Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard. He received his BS from MIT and MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed pediatric hematology/oncology training at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and trained in the laboratory of the late Philip Leder at the National Institutes of Health.

The first recipient of The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, in 2014, was Dr. Harry Dietz (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA), for his contributions to the understanding of the biology and treatment of Marfan syndrome, a disorder leading to deadly aneurysms in children and adults. The 2015 recipient was Douglas R. Lowy, MD, Chief, Laboratory of Cellular Oncology (The National Cancer Institute, USA), in recognition of his discoveries that led to the development of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. The 2016 recipient was Jeffrey M. Friedman, MD, PhD (The Rockefeller University, USA), for his discovery of leptin, which controls feeding behavior and is used to treat related clinical disorders. In 2017, the Prize was awarded jointly to Daniel J. Drucker, MD (Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada), Joel F. Habener, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital, USA) and Jens J. Holst, MD, DMSc (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) for their discovery of incretin hormones and for the translation of these findings into transformative therapies for major metabolic diseases such as diabetes. The 2018 recipient was Helen H. Hobbs, MD (UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA) for her discovery of the link between a gene mutation (PCSK9) and lower levels of LDL, which has improved the treatment of high cholesterol. In 2019, Dr. Carl H. June, MD, received the award for advancing the clinical application of CAR T therapy for cancer treatment, and for his sustained contributions to the field of cellular immunology.

# # #

The American Society for Clinical Investigation

Founded in 1908, the American Society for Clinical Investigation is one of the oldest and most esteemed nonprofit honor societies of physician-scientists. Membership is by election only, and only researchers who are 50 years of age or younger are eligible for nomination to the Society. Therefore, membership in the ASCI is a recognition of a researcher’s significant contributions, at a relatively young age, to the understanding of human disease. The Society counts among its ranks more than 3,000 members, many of whom are leaders in academic medicine and industry. Many members have been recognized by election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine. The ASCI is also proud to have among its membership winners of the Nobel Prize and the Lasker Award. The ASCI convenes an annual meeting with the Association of American Physicians, and the Society self-publishes the prestigious Journal of Clinical Investigation (founded 1924), and JCI Insight (founded 2016).

Harrington Discovery Institute

The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals in Cleveland, OH – part of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development – aims to advance medicine and society by enabling our nation’s most inventive scientists to turn their discoveries into medicines that improve human health. The institute was created in 2012 with a $50 million founding gift from the Harrington family and instantiates the commitment they share with University Hospitals to a Vision for a ‘Better World’.

The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development

The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development (The Harrington Project), founded in late February 2012 by the Harrington Family and University Hospitals of Cleveland, is a $300 million national initiative built to bridge the translational valley of death. It includes the Harrington Discovery Institute and BioMotiv, a for-profit, mission-aligned drug development company that accelerates early discovery into pharma pipelines. For more information about The Harrington Project and the Harrington Discovery Institute, visit: HarringtonDiscovery.org.

COVID-19 outbreak in the United States

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Cancellation of the 2020 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting

March 11, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

After careful consideration, the AAP, ASCI, and APSA have made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020 Joint Meeting scheduled to take place in Chicago April 3-5, 2020.

The decision to cancel our annual event was not taken lightly. We have been closely monitoring updates and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as state and local governments. In the last week, we’ve also learned of the increasing number of travel advisories and restrictions being placed on health care providers, hospitals, and other institutions in the United States and globally.

The leaders of the AAP, ASCI, and APSA also recognize, in the context of the available data, the importance of avoiding the potential of contributing to disease spread by convening a meeting of more than 800 participants, including physician-scientist leaders, trainees, and students. As with so many of the other actions being taken globally, this is ultimately a public health measure.

The 2020 Joint Meeting will not be rescheduled. We hope to migrate certain features of the meeting to the 2021 Joint Meeting, to be held April 9-11 at the Fairmont Chicago. We will update members as a plan is developed. We understand how important the Joint Meeting is, particularly to physician-scientists, new members of the ASCI and AAP, and award winners. Please rest assured that the 2021 meeting will honor all of the 2020 honorees as well as additional honorees who will be determined over the next year as usual.

If you are registered to attend the meeting, we will be in touch with you directly with next steps regarding the refund of registration fees. If you have a reservation at the Fairmont Chicago for the purpose of attending the Joint Meeting, you must contact the Fairmont directly to cancel your reservation: 800-526-2008 or 312-565-8000. If you have made airline reservations, many carriers recognize the severity of the outbreak and are providing flexibility on cancellations.

We thank you for your efforts, as ever, to care for those who may be affected in your community, and we wish you the best of health.

Sincerely,


Mary Klotman, MD
AAP President

W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD
ASCI President

Resources about the COVID-19 outbreak

The ASCI strongly encourages all readers of this notice (particularly those who are older or who have underlying medical conditions) to be vigilant of their hygiene habits and to be aware of and follow local, institutional, state, and government guidance regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. Resources of note:

New members, 2020

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The ASCI is pleased to announce the election of the Society’s new members for 2020.

These new members come from 41 different institutions and represent excellence across the breadth of academic medicine. They will be officially inducted into the Society at the ASCI Dinner & New Member Induction Ceremony on April 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting (April 3-5) at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park.

The Council recommended 80 nominees (the limit according to the ASCI bylaws) for election from the 247 nominations submitted for consideration. The Active and Senior segments of the membership voted on the recommendation, with nearly 50% of eligible voters submitting their ballots by the deadline. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of approving the recommendation.

Benjamin Humphreys, the 2019-2021 Secretary-Treasurer, served as one of three required auditors of the ballot; Drs. Erik Roberson and David T. Teachey volunteered their time to serve as the other two auditors.

Name Institution
Larry Alexander Allen, MD, MHS University of Colorado School of Medicine
Rishi Arora, MD Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Themistocles L. Assimes, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Jared Murray Baeten, MD, PhD University of Washington School of Medicine
Christopher E. Barbieri, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Julie Anne Bastarache, MD Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Justin E. Bekelman, MD University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Tammie S. Benzinger, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Gregory P. Bisson, MD, MSCE University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
David R. Boulware, MD, MPH University of Minnesota Medical School
Scott Dexter Boyd, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Katrin Faye Chua, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Sara E. Cosgrove, MD, MS Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Deidra Candice Crews, MD, ScM Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Saumya Das, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Vinicio A. de Jesus Perez, MD Stanford University School of Medicine
Tushar J. Desai, MD, MPH Stanford University School of Medicine
Joseph Alexander Duncan, MD, PhD University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Stephanie Caroline Eisenbarth, MD, PhD Yale School of Medicine
Jordan Jay Feld, MD, MPH University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine
Maria E. Figueroa, MD University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Alexander G. Fiks, MD, MSCE Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Amit Gaggar, MD, PhD University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine
Katherine A. Gallagher, MD University of Michigan Medical School
Santhi K. Ganesh, MD University of Michigan Medical School
Wendy Sarah Garrett, MD, PhD Harvard School of Public Health
Benjamin Elison Gewurz, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Don L. Gibbons, MD, PhD University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Timothy D. Girard, MD, MSCI University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Carlos G. Grijalva, MD, MPH, FIDSA Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Johann E. Gudjonsson, MD, PhD University of Michigan Medical School
Alan M. Hanash, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Dennis J. Hartigan-O’Connor, MD, PhD University of California, Davis, School of Medicine
Mark Edward Hatley, MD, PhD St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Brent K. Hollenbeck, MD, MS University of Michigan Medical School
Edward Chiaming Hsiao, MD, PhD University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Erik Ingelsson, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Shuta Ishibe, MD Yale School of Medicine
Kevin Bruce Jones, MD University of Utah School of Medicine
Fasiha Kanwal, MD, MSHS Baylor College of Medicine
Dennis H. Kim, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital
Krzysztof Kiryluk, MD, MS Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
James N. Kochenderfer, MD NIH, National Cancer Institute
Allison W. Kurian, MD, MSc Stanford University School of Medicine
Douglas S. Kwon, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Dan A. Landau, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Elizabeth Austin Lawson, MD, MMSc Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Grace M. Lee, MD, MPH Stanford University School of Medicine
Anne Marie Lennon, MB, PhD Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Michail S. Lionakis, MD, ScD NIH, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Conor M. Liston, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Rohit Loomba, MD, MHSc University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Meenakshi Swaminathan Madhur, MD, PhD Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Denise K. Marciano, MD, PhD University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Erica E. Marsh, MD, MSCI University of Michigan Medical School
Michael E. Matheny, MD, MS, MPH Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Marcela Valderrama Maus, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH, MS Harvard Medical School
Joshua T. Mendell, MD, PhD University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Duane Anthony Mitchell, MD, PhD University of Florida College of Medicine
Nicholas Mitsiades, MD, PhD Baylor College of Medicine
Javid J. Moslehi, MD Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Carolyn I. Rodriguez, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Gregory A. Roth, MD, MPH University of Washington School of Medicine
Lauren Hachmann Sansing, MD, MS Yale School of Medicine
Kevin Navin Sheth, MD Yale School of Medicine
Daichi Shimbo, MD Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
Alexander A. Soukas, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Jennifer Lynn Taylor-Cousar, MD, MSCS National Jewish Health
David Tsai Ting, MD Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Shreyas Shreenivas Vasanawala, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, MD, PhD University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Andrew Zhuang Wang, MD University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Richard C. Wang, MD, PhD University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Richard M. White, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Renda Soylemez Wiener, MD, MPH Boston University School of Medicine
Brian M. Wolpin, MD, MPH Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Jennifer A. Woyach, MD Ohio State University College of Medicine
Mark Wu, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Jennifer S. Yu, MD, PhD Cleveland Clinic

New Council members elected, 2020

Posted on by John Hawley

The ASCI is pleased to announce the results of a recent ballot to fill Council vacancies pending in 2020. Dr. Benjamin Humphreys, Secretary-Treasurer Elect, oversaw the ballot; Drs. Wonder Drake and Anna Hemnes volunteered as auditors.

The following members will join the Council at the conclusion of the upcoming AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, April 3-5.

Vice President: Sohail F. Tavazoie, MD, PhD


Dr. Tavazoie

Dr. Tavazoie is Leon Hess Professor and Senior Attending Physician at the Rockefeller University. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School and PhD from Harvard University, completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and completed a fellowship in oncology at the Sloan Kettering Institute. Elected to the ASCI in 2015, he currently serves on the Council as a Councilor.

Read more about Dr. Tavazoie

Secretary-Treasurer Elect: Priscilla Ying Hsue, MD


Dr. Hsue

Dr. Hsue is the William Watt Kerr Professor of Medicine and Co-Director, Center of Vascular Excellence, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She received an MD from UCSF, where she completed her internship and residency. Dr. Hsue was elected to the ASCI in 2013.

Read more about Dr. Hsue

Councilor: Jennifer A. Wargo, MD, MMSc


Dr. Wargo

Dr. Wargo is Professor, Department of Genomic Medicine, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She received an MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, completed a clinical internship and residency in general surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); a research fellowship in surgical oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles; a clinical residency in general surgery at MGH; and a clinical fellowship in surgical oncology at the National Cancer Institute. She received an MMSc from Harvard University in 2012. She was elected to the ASCI in 2019.

Read more about Dr. Wargo

The 2020 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award: Judith A. James, MD, PhD

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Dr. James

Judith A. James, MD, PhD, is the recipient of the 2020 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for her contributions to understanding the mechanisms of systemic autoimmune diseases.

Dr. James earned her BS from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1989 and her PhD and MD from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) in 1993 and 1994, respectively. From 1993 to 1995, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) in the laboratory of John Harley, MD, PhD. At OUHSC, she completed her internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in rheumatology.

Systemic autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), arise from dysregulation of the immune system. This dysregulation signals immune cells to target a person’s normal proteins, protein complexes, tissues, and organs, creating potentially extremely damaging inflammation and shortened lifespans. Dr. James has focused on identifying changes in the immune system before clinical diagnosis of disease. In 2003, she and her collaborators used the US Department of Defense Serum Repository to identify SLE autoantibodies in samples collected from military personnel before their diagnosis with SLE; this research demonstrated that one or more of these autoantibodies are present for several years before diagnosis and that they progressively accumulate before the appearance of disease symptoms. This work has since progressed to a US multicenter clinical trial, initiated in 2017, to identify people who are at high risk for developing SLE and to treat them with hydroxychloroquine before the onset of disease, with the goal of delaying onset and disease severity.

Dr. James’s research has been supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, among other sources.

In addition to her body of research now comprising more than 280 journal articles, Dr. James has a deep mentoring history spanning the student spectrum and postdoctoral fellows, with a particular dedication to America Indian and underrepresented minority trainees.

Dr. James, a native of Pond Creek, Oklahoma, began her affiliation with OMRF as a Sir Alexander Fleming Scholar in 1988. She joined the scientific staff of OMRF in 1994. She is Vice President of Clinical Affairs, OMRF, and Associate Vice Provost for Clinical and Translational Science, OUHSC. She holds the George Lynn Cross Research Professorship and is Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pathology, and Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, OUHSC; and is Lou C. Kerr Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research, OMRF.

Dr. James has received national and international recognition for her achievements, including the US Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2000); the Edmund L. Dubois, MD, Memorial Lectureship, Research and Education Foundation of the American College of Rheumatology (2007); the Paul Klemperer, MD, Memorial Lectureship of the American College of Rheumatology (2019), and the Evelyn V. Hess, MD Award from the Lupus Foundation of America (2019). She was elected to the Henry Kunkel Society in 2002 and to the ASCI in 2003. Dr. James served from 2012 to 2015 on the ASCI Council as Secretary-Treasurer Elect and Secretary-Treasurer.

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The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

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The ASCI is pleased to recognize the three joint recipients of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: William G. Kaelin Jr., MD, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza, MD, PhD. The Prize, announced October 7, was awarded to the researchers for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.

From left to right: William Kaelin, Peter Ratcliffe, and Gregg Semenza. Image credits (left to right): Sam Ogden/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Paul Wilkinson Photography, Jay VanRensselaer/Johns Hopkins Medicine.

 

Dr. Kaelin is Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. Along with this honor, he shared the 2016 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Sir Peter and Dr. Semenza and the 2012 ASCI | Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award with Dr. Semenza. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (elected 2010), the National Academy of Medicine (2007), and the ASCI (1997, view profile).

Sir Peter is Director of the Target Discovery Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and a Member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He shared the 2016 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Drs. Kaelin and Semenza. Dr. Ratcliffe is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences and an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Semenza is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Director of the Vascular Research Program at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering. He shared the 2016 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Dr. Kaelin and Sir Peter and the 2012 ASCI | Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award with Dr. Kaelin. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (2012), the National Academy of Sciences (elected 2008), and the ASCI (1995, view profile).

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