ISTH Presents 2020 Esteemed Career Awards
The ISTH has announced the commendable recipients of the 2020 ISTH Esteemed Career Awards: Francis J. Castellino, Ph.D.; Emmanuel J. Favaloro, Ph.D.; Elizabeth Gardiner, Ph.D.; Andreas Greinacher, M.D.; and John W. Weisel, Ph.D.
The ISTH presents the Esteemed Career Awards to individuals who, in the opinion of their peers, have made significant contributions to the understanding, treatment and diagnosis, research and education in the thrombosis and hemostasis field.
These individuals’ career contributions have significantly advanced the scientific community’s understanding or treatment of diseases and disorders that affect hemostasis. Their accomplishments are internationally regarded as exemplary models of research and mentoring excellence.
Learn more about the recipients below:
Francis J. Castellino, Ph.D., is the Director of the W.M. Keck Center for Transgene Research at the University of Notre Dame (U.S.). His nominators declared: “Castellino is a spectacular scientist who has made critical contributions to the overall thrombosis and hemostasis fields, largely focused on the proteinases involved in the coagulation and fibrinolysis from remarkably diverse and extended aspects, over his 50-year research carrier.”
Emmanuel J. Favaloro, Ph.D., is the Principal Hospital Scientist at the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital (Australia). He is a member and active participant in several ISTH SSC Subcommittees, and his nominators shared: “Favaloro is internationally recognized expert in various thrombosis and hemostasis 'topic' areas - he was ranked first in Australia and in top 10 in the world for von Willebrand disease, lupus coagulation inhibitor, blood coagulation factor inhibitors and hemostasis.”
Elizabeth Gardiner, Ph.D. is theHead of the Department ACRF Cancer Biology and Therapeutics at Australian National University (Australia). She is a current co-chair of the ISTH SSC Subcommittee on Biorheology and a past co-chair of the ISTH SSC Subcommittee on Vascular Biology. She current serves as a member of the ISTH Council Committee on Membership and Communications and also served on the ISTH 2019 Congress Scientific Program Theme Committee. Her nominators described her contributions as follows: “ Her core research uniquely identified and characterized a ligand-dependent, metalloproteinase-mediated shedding of the primary platelet receptor for collagen, glycoprotein (GP)VI. She expanded these studies of platelet receptor regulation, to examine how uncontrolled platelet activation (HIT, ITP, TTP) influences surface levels of the prothrombotic platelet receptors such as GPVI and GPIbα. Her research findings offer a new paradigm for understanding how receptor levels influence platelet reactivity, lifespan and survival.”
Andreas Greinacher, M.D., is the Head of Transfusion Medicine and Thrombosis and Hemostasis Service at the University Medicine Greifswald (Germany). He is a past member of the ISTH Council where he also served as the chair of the education committee, and he is a current Associate Editor for the Society’s Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Nominated, in part, for his role in mentoring and advancing the field in Nigeria, his nominators shared: “[Greinacher] demonstrated an uncommon ability to understand the peculiarities and the limitations of diagnosing and managing disorders of hemostasis in Nigeria…He is a strong motivator and mentor to the hemostatic community.”
John W. Weisel, Ph.D., is Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Deptartment of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (U.S.). He is a former co-chair of the ISTH SSC Subcommittee on Factor XIII and Fibrinogen. Among his many contributions, his nominators shared: “[Weisel] carried out the first X-ray crystallography studies of fibrinogen at a time when the largest protein structures solved were less than a third the size. Subsequently, he characterized the structures of many coagulation proteins and supramolecular protein complexes by electron microscopy of rotary shadowed specimens. His investigation of platelet αIIbβ3 was the first characterization of the shape of integrins and their interactions with fibrin(ogen).”