Good News: American Society of Hematology to recognize Dr. Oliver Press for outstanding mentorship

The American Society of Hematology, or ASH, today announced that Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Dr. Oliver “Ollie” Press, an internationally known expert in lymphoma and other blood cancers, will receive an award for outstanding mentorship Dec. 10 at the 59^thASH Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta.

He was selected as one of two recipients of the 2017 ASH Mentor Award for his “sustained, outstanding commitment to the training and career development of early-career hematologists,” according to an ASH news release. The other recipient is Dr. Ronald Hoffman, a professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York

Press is a radioimmunotherapy researcher and oncologist at Fred Hutch, where he is a member of the Clinical Research Division and holds the Giuliani/Press Endowed Chair. He is also a professor of medicine and an adjunct professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington.

He has mentored more than 70 individuals since the 1980s, including undergraduates, medical students, doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows.

According to the ASH release, “his commitment as a mentor can easily be seen in the impressive number of former trainees who have received career-development grants and have gone on to become leaders in academic medicine and pharmaceutical companies.”

Press’ mentees “uniformly cite his unparalleled generosity with his time and his dedication to mentorship activities as having played a large role in advancing their careers. He is also recognized for the value he places on work-life balance, personal connections and professionalism.”