ASH News Daily 2013 - Day 3 - (Page B-18)
Page B-18
ASH News Daily
Monday, December 9, 2013
®
career-development
awardS
Scholar Award
«« From Page B-16
Anita Rajasekhar, MD, MS
Dr. Rajasekhar is an assistant
professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. She is a clinician and clinical investigator with
a focus on benign hematology. She
completed her medical degree and
masters in clinical investigation
at the University of Florida. She is
board certified in internal medicine,
hematology, and medical oncology.
Dr. Rajasekhar is an active member
of the American Society
of Hematology. As a fellow, she was
selected
to
participate
in the 2008
ASH Clinical Research
and Training
Institute, and
she will serve
as a faculty
Anita Rajasekhar,
member in
MD, MS
2014. Currently, she serves as a member of the ASH
Committee on Quality. Her primary
clinical interests include diagnosis
and treatment of benign hematologic conditions, particularly related to
thrombosis and hemostasis. She recently helped secure the University
of Florida's position as a federally
funded hemophilia treatment center. Dr. Rajasekhar's research focus
is on the prevention and treatment
of venous thromboembolism. She
has presented at national meetings
and has several peer-reviewed publications related to thrombosis and
transfusion in special populations.
Dr. Rajasekhar was awarded an
ASH Scholar Award to study methods to improve removal rates of inferior vena cava filters.
Editor's Note: Dr. Rajasekhar is part
of this year's ASH News Daily Editorial Board and writing articles for the
paper along with Dr. Marc Zumberg.
Raajit Rampal, MD, PhD
Dr. Rampal received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry
from the University of Rochester. He
subsequently went on to train in the
Medical Scientist Training Program
(MSTP) at Stony Brook University. His PhD work focused on the
regulation of the Notch signaling
pathway by glycosyltransferases.
This was followed by an internship
and residency at the University of
Chicago, as part of the Physician-
Scientist Development
Program. Dr.
Rampal then
went on to a
fellowship in
hematology
and
medical oncology
at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering CanRaajit Rampal, MD,
cer Center.
During fel- PhD
lowship, Dr. Rampal joined the laboratory of Dr. Ross Levine. The focus
of his research has been to utilize genetic insights from primary patient
samples to elucidate mechanism of
pathogenesis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the Philadelphiachromosome negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). These
insights have been used to genetically characterize different myeloid neoplasms, as well as to develop murine
models of AML and MPN.
Dr. Rampal has joined the faculty at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center as assistant attending physician on the Leukemia service. He continues his work on the
genetic characterization of myeloid
malignancies. He is also focusing
efforts on developing clinical trials
based on insights from pre-clinical
murine studies.
Dr. Rampal has received the ASH
Scholar Award to study the role of
WT1 in AML, and he is extremely honored to have received this
award. The ASH Scholar award will
be instrumental to his career development and progression of his research goals. He acknowledges the
tremendous support of his clinical
and scientific mentors.
Jean-Francois Rual, PhD
Dr. Rual completed his graduate
research studies in the laboratory of
Dr. Marc Vidal at Harvard Medical
School and received his PhD from
the University of Notre Dame de la
Paix in molecular biology in 2005.
After completing his
postdoctoral
training in
the laboratory of Dr.
Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas at Harvard Medical
School, Dr. Jean-Francois Rual, PhD
Rual joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology at the University
of Michigan as an assistant professor
in July 2011. The research interests
of Dr. Rual lie in the field of systems
biology and the use of proteomic approaches to study cellular networks.
His lab focuses on the systematic
analysis of protein interactions in biologic systems and their relationship
to human disease, with particular interest in the MLL/HOXA9 axis and
the Notch signaling pathway.
Dhvanit Shah, PhD
Dr. Shah is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and
associate scientist at Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston. He
received his bachelor and master's
degrees in pharmaceutical sciences
from Gujarat University, India, and
received his PhD in pharmacology
from Punjabi University, India. In
addition, he completed his postdoctoral fellowship in hematology
at Brigham and Women's Hospital
and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Shah's research focuses on
identifying new genes and mechanisms that regulate normal and
diseased hematopoiesis. Dr. Shah
recently identified that mitochondrial ATPase inhibitory factor 1
(Atpif1) regulates heme synthesis
in zebrafish,
mouse, and
human red
cell development. He
established
a
unique
functional
link between
Atpif1-regulated mitochondrial
pH, redox
Dhvanit Shah, PhD
potential,
and [2Fe-2S] cluster binding to Fech
in modulating its heme synthesis
(Nature 2012). His discovery of Atpif1 as a regulator of heme synthesis advances the understanding of
mitochondrial heme homeostasis
and red blood cell development.
While Dr. Shah is analyzing additional new genes that regulate red
cell development, he is poised to
provide new insights into hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) origin and
its development. He aims to translate findings from his research work
into improved therapeutic options
for patients with genetic blood disorders.
Dr. Shah is extremely honored
to be selected for an ASH Scholar
Award; it has provided him a spotlight in the hematology field and
will further his research to analyze
the origin, development, and differentiation of HSC and red blood
cells. He is very grateful to Dr.
Barry H. Paw, Dr. Ellis J. Neufeld,
Dr. Leonard I. Zon, Dr. Robert I.
Handin, Dr. Carlo Brugnara, Dr. H.
Franklin Bunn, and Dr. Nancy Berliner for their mentorship, encouragement, and guidance. He is motivated by his mentors and advisors,
and he hopes to have an impact on
the hematology field to a similar or
greater extent.
Catherine Smith, MD
Dr. Smith is currently an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
She graduated from
Duke University
School
of
Medicine
in
2002
and
completed her
residency
in internal
Catherine Smith, MD
medicine at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in
2005. She did her fellowship training
in Hematology/Oncology at UCSF
and pursued postdoctoral research
in the laboratory of Dr. Neil Shah.
Her research has focused on the use
of FLT3 inhibitors in acute myeloid
leukemia (AML) and translational
studies investigating mechanisms of
resistance to these agents. Her goal
has been to apply lessons learned
from resistance to tyrosine kinase
inhibitors in chronic myeloid leukemia to more successful use of FLT3
inhibitors in AML. She feels strongly
that by taking a "bedside-to-benchand-back" approach to the study of
novel therapeutics in AML, those in
the field are best poised to improve
outcomes in this disease. She is truly
grateful to the ASH Scholar Award
program for helping to provide salary support during a critical time in
her career as a junior faculty member.
Laurie Steiner, MD
Dr. Steiner attained her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester, graduating magna
cum lade with a bachelor of science
in biochemistry. She then attended medical school at Mount Sinai
School of Medicine in New York,
NY, where
she developed an interest in basic science
research by
working in
the laboratory of Dr.
Bruce Gelb
studying
the genetics
of congeni- Laurie Steiner, MD
tal
heart
disease. Following medical school,
she did her clinical training at Yale
where she completed a pediatrics
residency and neonatology fellowship. During her residency training,
»» SCHOLAR AWARD Page B-20
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ASH News Daily 2013 - Day 3
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