EHA-ASH Award Winners

Over the past several years, the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the European Society of Hematology (EHA) have come together to share ideas and discuss common issues. One tangible product of this is the joint symposia hosted at the EHA and ASH Annual Meetings. Recently, ASH and EHA took this collaboration one step further to offer the EHA-ASH International Fellowship Award Program which was launched in 2006.

This program offers hematologists early in their careers or in training the opportunity to participate in an exchange between Europe and North America and conduct research at the institution of their choice. The intent of the program is to give both clinical and laboratory-based researchers an opportunity to establish new collaborations and experience research in a different environment. This program will benefit not only the recipients, but also each institution, as it will build stronger ties between the North American and European scientific community.

Winners 2008

Serena Kimi Perna, MD
Home institution: San Raffacle Scientific Institute, Italy
Host institution: Baylor College of medicine, Texas, US
Title: "Chimeric T cells for therapy of Hodgkin Lymphoma"

Lapo Alinari, MD
Home institution: "Seragnoli" Institute of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Italy
Host Institute: The Ohio State University, Ohio
Title: "Role of the protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) in B Cell Transformation"

Winners 2007

A Barcelona native, Dr. Marta Crespo earned her bachelors degree in Biology and her doctorate in Biopathology medicine at the University of Barcelona. She has spent the past five years working in the Hematology Department of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain. She recently obtained her PhD after publishing two papers under the guidance of her mentor, Dr. Francesc Bosch. Dr. Bosch describes her with passion saying “From the first day the enthusiasm and desire to learn were some of the most remarkable characteristics of this young investigator.” In July, Dr. Crespo will take her experience to the Institute for Cancer Genetics at Columbia University. There, under the direction of 2006 William Dameshek Prize recipient, Dr. Riccardo Dalla-Favera, Dr. Crespo will develop her research project Zap-70 and c-Cbl protein interactions in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia .

Dr. Giovanni Roti is a resident in the Department of Hematology at Perugia University in Perugia, Italy. Dr. Roti’s research project is entitled “Modulating Notch1 with Signature-based Small Molecule Library Screening” and he will be working at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA under host mentor Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, a current ASH Scholar. In his application Dr. Roti writes “As a European scientist, I have always admired the American academic model and aspired to train in this environment…This opportunity will broaden my exposure to new genomic models of scientific discovery and deepen my knowledge about a field of research not accessible in my current laboratory in Italy.”

ASH and EHA are pleased to assist the research of these promising young investigators through this unique new award. We extend our sincere congratulations to Dr. Crespo and Dr. Roti. If you are interested in learning more about this program, please visit the ASH Web site at http://www.hematology.org/education/awards/ifa.cfm for more information.

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