The program funds hematologists in the United States and Canada who conduct basic, translational and clinical research as they transition from training programs to careers as independent investigators.
Dr. Ryan Morin, senior scientist at BC Cancer's Genome Sciences Centre and associate professor at Simon Fraser University, was the only Canadian recipient of the ASH Scholar Award this year.
"The ASH Scholar Award program is prestigious and highly competitive. As the only Canadian laboratory to be awarded one this year, I consider this to be recognition of our laboratory, and its collaborators at BC Cancer, as world-class leaders in hematologic cancer research," says Dr. Morin.
"In this difficult funding climate, no laboratory is immune to the consequences of a lapse in federal grant funding. These funds will help us collect essential preliminary data to keep us competitive in Canada and internationally."
Each Scholar Award provides $100,000 for fellows or $150,000 for junior faculty over two or three years.
ASH is the world’s largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders affecting the blood.
"For over 30 years, ASH has launched successful independent research careers in hematology by giving promising scholars the freedom to pursue important scientific questions,” said ASH President Alexis A. Thompson, MD, MPH, of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “The Scholar Award recipients announced today were chosen because ASH has confidence that their research is critical to hematology."
Learn more about the 2019 Scholar Awards, here.