ASH News Daily 2013 - Day 3 - (Page A-5)
Monday, December 9, 2013
ASH NEWS DAILY
Hematology by Default: Beutler Lecturers
Confess That All Roads Led to Hematology
T
his afternoon, the Society will
honor Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky,
Stony Brook University,
and Dr. David J. Kuter, Massachusetts
General Hospital Cancer Center,
with the 2013 Ernest Beutler Lecture
and Prize for their significant
contributions to the discovery of
thrombopoietin (TPO). Established
in honor of the late Ernest Beutler,
MD, past president of ASH and
physician-scientist for more than 50
years, this award recognizes two individuals,
one who has enabled advances
in basic science and the other
for achievements in clinical science
or translational research. This year's
joint lecture, "Thrombopoietin: From
Molecule to Medicine," will be delivered
at 1:30 p.m.
Dr. Kaushansky, Basic Science
recipient of the Prize, is senior vice
president of Health Sciences and
dean of the School of Medicine at
Stony Brook University. Within the
Society, he has served as ASH president
in 2008 and the Editor-in-Chief
of the Society's journal Blood from
1998 to 2002. Dr. Kuter, recipient of
the Prize in Translational Research
and Clinical Science, serves as the
director of the Massachusetts General
Cancer Hospital Center for Hematology
and a professor of medicine at
Harvard Medical School. He earned
his DPhil while a Rhodes Scholar at
Oxford University before earning his
medical degree from Harvard and
beginning his 35-year physician-scientist
career at Mass General. ASH
News Daily spoke with both of them
about their successful careers and
most memorable moments.
What does it mean to you to receive
this honorific award?
Dr. Kaushansky: I am extremely
flattered to receive the Beutler Lecture
and Prize, for it is a major recognition
by one's peers that our
laboratory's contributions to the
biomedical sciences have stimulated
something important in the field of
medicine. Moreover, it highlights
the importance of individuals who
speak the language of science and
the language of clinical medicine.
The Prize is especially humbling, as
I knew Ernie quite well.
Dr. Kuter: I was surprised
and very gratified to receive this
award. What's gratifiying to me
is being involved at the discovery,
the initial development, and
now the final development of the
thrombopoietic agent. What's fantastic
is that what took me literally
two years to purify a microgram
of back in 1987, can now be done
with relative ease.
What attracted you to pur-
sue a career in hematology?
Dr. Kaushansky: By the
middle of my second year
of residency, I had narrowed
potential specialties
to nephrology, pulmonary
medicine, and hematology.
I decided that I didn't want
to write dialysis orders
for a living, so there went
nephrology, and I didn't
want to work on sputum
for my career, so there went
pulmonary medicine.
Dr. Kuter: Back in the
80s, there were very few areas
where you could combine
basic science knowledge
of a disease with
clinical care. Further, the
first patient I ever saw as
a medical student had ITP
and was bleeding to death.
Prednisone stopped the
bleeding temporarily, but
Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky
Dr. David J. Kuter
»» BEUTLER Page A-6
Page A-5
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ASH News Daily 2013 - Day 3
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