2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the ASH Scholar Award program. Since 1985, the American Society of Hematology has supported many great researchers through this program. The ASH Scholar Awards are designed to support hematologists who have chosen a career in research by providing partial salary or other support during that critical period required for completion of training and achievement of status as an independent investigator. In recognition of this anniversary, The Hematologist will be highlighting past and present award winners throughout 2009. We are starting with Dr. D. Gary Gilliland, who was a recipient in 1991.
The ASH Scholar Award was a life-changing event for me. Were it not for this award, I almost certainly would have done something else with my life, rather than pursuing an academic career focused on developing better treatments for hematologic malignancies based on insights into the genetic basis of disease.
I had only dared in my wildest imaginings to dream that I might be a productive physician-scientist … and no one, including me, knew whether I had such potential. The ASH Scholar Award gave me the confidence that I might actually be able to make it work.
I received my PhD in microbiology in 1980 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in John Collier’s lab, where we attempted to redirect the potent diphtheria and ricin toxins to cancer cells using monoclonal antibodies. Based on this experience, I became interested in cancer biology and cancer therapy and elected to pursue medical training to further inform my understanding of cancer. I trained in a wonderful clinical environment at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as a medical student, and subsequently at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) as a resident and chief resident. I completed my fellowship training at the BWH in hematology and at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in medical oncology. But, when I completed that training, I still did not know whether I would have what it takes to make significant contributions to our understanding of the molecular genetics of hematologic malignancies and to try to translate those insights into better therapies.
I was very fortunate to be mentored and supported by Dr. Frank Bunn as a hematology fellow. In his laboratory, he gave me broad breadth for investigation and fostered and nurtured my interest in hematologic malignancies. He is the consummate physician-scientist and continues as a role model to this day. I have no way of repaying the debt that I owe to Dr. Bunn, except to thank him for selfless support of my career development. It was Dr. Bunn who suggested that I apply for the ASH Scholar Award to study myelodysplastic syndrome — the start of a wonderful journey in understanding molecular pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies.
At the time I applied for the ASH Scholar Award, in 1990, I had very little preliminary data and no track record of publication apart from graduate school publications while at UCLA. I believe that having a mentor like Frank Bunn made all the difference in my application, and ultimately in my being selected for the ASH Scholar Award. And receiving the award helped convince me that I should pursue this challenging career path. It was an honor like no other.
It has been a very exciting era of disease allele discovery and development of targeted therapy in myeloid malignancies, and it has been a thrill for me from a scientific, clinical, and personal perspective to see the remarkable advances that we have made as a community of investigators since 1990. I am currently a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School with a lab full of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who (thankfully) are much smarter than I am, so my scientific and clinical life remains exciting and invigorated. And the torch gets passed on. My trainees benefit from my understanding from Frank Bunn of how important it is to be generous and provide support early in career development. Many of them, in turn, have been recipients of the ASH Scholar Award in support of their career development and have gone on to their own independent academic labs and careers.
I view the ASH Scholar Award in the way we think of the Notch pathway in development as a cell fate determinant. The ASH Scholar Award was my fate determinant. It persuaded me to pursue this academic career path. The award program has continued to support development of promising young investigators and ensures the future for our efforts to develop cures for leukemias and other cancers.
