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 59thASH 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.”
Press has been a member of ASH since 1995 and has served as an associate editor of its journal, Blood, and on multiple ASH committees, including the Program Committee and the Scientific Subcommittee on Lymphocytic Biology. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the John Ultmann Award for Contributions to Lymphoma Research, the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award, Ellen Glesby Cohen Leadership Award, and Freundlich Leadership Award.
He is the inaugural recipient of the Oliver W. Press Distinguished MSTP Alumnus Award, an award named in his honor that recognizes a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program. He has also received the Department of Medicine Mentorship Award from the University of Washington.
“ASH is thrilled to recognize Drs. Hoffman and Press for their outstanding mentorship, through which they have trained and inspired the future leaders of hematology,” said ASH President Dr. Kenneth C. Anderson of the Lebow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and Jerome Lipper Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “We honor their important role in upholding ASH’s strong tradition of hematology training by preparing future generations of mentors.”
— Adapted from an ASH news release
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