The Minority Medical Student Award Program (MMSAP) encourages minority medical students to pursue an interest in hematology research. For an eight- to 12-week period, MMSAP participants will work closely with their mentors on a hematology-related research project. The subjects investigated by this year’s students include lymphoma, leukemia, sickle cell anemia, multiple myeloma, and stem cells. The awardees will have the opportunity to present the results of their research at ASH’s annual meeting in December.

This year’s program has the largest number of participants yet, including three returning students. Each award recipient will receive the support of a research mentor and a career-development mentor, travel stipends to attend medical meetings, and subscriptions to The Hematologist and Blood.

Nnenaya Agochukwu Louisiana State University School of MedicineResearch Project: Objective measures of pain during sickle cell pain crisisResearch Mentor: Shantan Reddy, MD LSU Health Sciences Center – Shreveport Feist-Weiller Cancer Center

Jamie Brewer University of Illinois – ChicagoResearch Project: Significance of factor VIII inhibitors by ELISA in hemophilia A patients and functional limitations in hemophilia A: comparison of a self-assessment tool and joint ROMResearch Mentor: Anaadriana Zakarija, MD Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine

Ashanti Franklin University of Southern California, Keck School of MedicineResearch Project: Elucidating the effects of the PIGA gene mutation in endothelial cells in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuriaResearch Mentor: Howard Liebman, MD University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine

Imo Akpan University of Illinois - Chicago College of MedicineResearch Project: Determination of the relative roles of transcription and translation in the mechanism responsible for increased fetal hemoglobin levels following decitabine administration in the baboon modelResearch Mentor: Joseph DeSimone, PhD University of Illinois – Chicago

Mohamad Alghothani University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-ChampaignResearch Project: Exploring the therapeutic potential of targeting programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) receptor and PD-1-ligand in EBV-related lymphoproliferative disordersResearch Mentor: Robert Baiocchi, MD, PhD The Ohio State University

May Cho Meharry Medical CollegeResearch Project: Structural requirements for LDB1 protein dimerization in mammalian cellResearch Mentor: Stephen Brandt, MD Vanderbilt University

Hector R. Flores-Bermudez Universidad Central del Caribe - School of MedicineResearch Project: Activation of PP2A as a therapeutic target in multiple myelomaResearch Mentor: Steven Rosen, MD Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine

Michael Garcia Harvard Medical SchoolResearch Project: The role of CD74 in blocking apoptosis during lymphomaResearch Mentor: Felipe Samaniego, MD M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

William J. Gostic II Harvard Medical SchoolResearch Project: Comparison of myelosuppression in pediatric ALL treatment using PEG-asp and L-aspResearch Mentor: Lewis Bary Silverman, MD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Tiffany D. Jackson Mercer University School of MedicineResearch Project: Optimization of culture and growth factor conditions for differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to megakaryocytes and plateletsResearch Mentor: Kenneth Zuckerman, MD University of South Florida/H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center

Courtney Nicole Johnson University of Southern California, Keck School of MedicineResearch Project: Evaluation of mutations in imatinib-resistant CML Latino versus non-Latino patientsResearch Mentor: Allen Yang, MD, PhD USC Keck School of Medicine

Steven Ovu Texas A&M Health Science Center - College of MedicineResearch Project: Investigating the impor tant role of nucleolin in SLL/CLL apoptosisResearch Mentor: Felipe Samaniego, MD M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Vanessa Pineros University of PennsylvaniaResearch Project: Targeting the c-Myb mRNA: a novel approach to treating acute leukemiaResearch Mentor: Alan Gewirtz, MD University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Nneamaka Ugbode Jefferson Medical CollegeResearch Project: Manipulating the stability of ß-globin mRNA for the treatment of major hematologic disordersResearch Mentor: J. Eric Russell, MD University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Elizabeth Yeboah University of TorontoResearch Project: Determining the patient and disease characteristics that correlate with long-term response to lenalidomide in the treatment of relapsed multiple myelomaResearch Mentor: Christine Chen, MD University of Toronto, Princess Margaret Hospital