William Dameshek Prize

The William Dameshek Prize is awarded to an early- or mid-career hematologist who has made a recent outstanding contribution to the field of hematology. This prize is named after the late William Dameshek, MD, a past president of ASH and the original editor of the Society's flagship journal, Blood. ASH President Roy Silverstein, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee will present this award to Dr. Passegué on Tuesday, December 10, during the 61st ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando. Dr. Passegué, director of Columbia Stem Cell Initiative at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Alumni Professor of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, is an outstanding scientist who has made seminal contributions to the understanding of the biology of blood-forming stem cells. Her work focuses on changes that happen to stem cells in the contexts of myeloid malignancies and physiological aging. Notably, she discovered a potential strategy for correcting impaired blood production in the elderly by identifying specific biological mechanisms that are altered when stem cells age and become dysfunctional. Dr. Passegué's other discoveries have implications for blood cancers and bone marrow failure syndromes. She defined the unique susceptibility of stem cells to certain types of DNA damage, from such sources as ultra-violet rays and x-ray machines, and described how these cells' specific repair mechanisms can render them vulnerable to disease-causing mutations. Dr. Passegué's scientific contributions have been previously recognized with an ASH Scholar Award and an NHLBI Outstanding Investigator R35 grant. She has served as vice-chair and chair of the ASH Scientific Committee on Myeloid Biology and as an abstract and award study section reviewer. 'Dr. Passegué is an impressive investigator who has clearly accomplished so much, all within 10 years of starting her own laboratory,' said Dr. Silverstein. 'Her discoveries have illuminated this field of hematology research, and I am honored to present Dr. Passegué with the William Dameshek Prize.'