HTRS Board of Directors

OFFICERS

Shannon L. Meeks, MD

President

Associate Professor of Pediatrics,
Scientific Director for Hemostasis and Thrombosis

Emory University School of Medicine
The Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of
Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Department of Pediatrics

Jordan Shavit, MD, PhD

Vice President/President-Elect

Professor of Pediatrics, Hemostasis/Thrombosis
C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Michigan Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School

Dr. Meeks has a basic, translational, and clinical research interest in the immune response in hemophilia A. Her laboratory in particular has characterized the epitopes recognized in the B-cell response to factor VIII.

Dr. Shavit received his MD and PhD degrees from Northwestern University after completing his undergraduate education at the University of Michigan. He returned to Ann Arbor to complete a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology. Dr. Shavit is a Professor of Pediatrics and Human Genetics and the Henry and Mala Dorfman Family Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, and cares for patients with bleeding and thrombotic disorders. His research interests are in “clinically directed basic science” using zebrafish as a model and his work is currently supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, and has previously been supported by HTRS, the American Society of Hematology, the National Hemophilia Foundation, the American Heart Association, Hemophilia of Georgia, the Bayer Hemophilia Awards Program, and the Pfizer Aspire Program. He is a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the National Hemophilia Foundation (MASAC), the American Society of Hematology, International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the American Pediatric Society. He has served on the HTRS board of directors since 2018.

Lynn Malec, MD, MSc

Treasurer

Medical Director
Comprehensive Center for Bleeding Disorders

Versiti/Medical College of Wisconsin

Shannon L. Carpenter, MD, MS HTRS Immediate Past President

Shannon L. Carpenter, MD, MS

Immediate Past President

Associate Division Director,
Kansas City Comprehensive Hemophilia
Treatment Center

Section Chief of Hematology,
Children's Mercy Hospital
Professor of Pediatrics,
University of Missouri-Kansas City 

Dr. Malec is actively involved in the clinical care of both adult and pediatric patients with disorders of hemostasis and thrombosis as well as clinical research involving this patient population. She was awarded the 2016 HTRS/ATHN DREAM Award to explore the impact of extended half-life products in patients with hemophilia.

Dr. Carpenter's clinical research interests include inhibitors in hemophilia patients and the risk for thrombosis in hospitalized pediatric patients. She serves on the Board of ATHN and is Deputy Editor of PREP Hematology/Oncology published online by the AAP.

Arash Mahajerin

Arash Mahajerin, MD, MSCr

Education Officer

Pediatric Hematologist
Children's Hospital of Orange County

Bryce Kerlin

Bryce Kerlin, MD 

Research & Awards Officer

Principal Investigator,
Abigail Wexner Research Institute,
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Director, Joan Fellowship in Pediatric Hemostasis/Thrombosis
Professor of Pediatrics,
The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Arash Mahajerin joined CHOC Children’s Specialists in the Division of Hematology in July 2013 after completing residency and a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, IN. His main area of clinical and research interests is in hemostasis and thrombosis primarily focused on epidemiology, risk-prediction, and cost-utility but also in pediatric thrombotic microangiopathy, trauma, and anti-platelet therapy in congenital heart disease. When not at work, Dr. Mahajerin enjoys spending time with his wife, Lindsay, and two sons, Rostam and Santino.

Bryce A. Kerlin, MD is a Principal Investigator in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's, Director of The Joan Fellowship in Pediatric Hemostasis-Thrombosis, and Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Kerlin earned a BS in Medical Laboratory Science from Purdue University and his MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin. He trained in Pediatrics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin where he studied the immunomodulatory role of the thrombomodulin-protein C pathway in Dr. Hartmut Weiler’s Versiti/Blood Research Institute laboratory. He then took a 10-year hiatus from basic science and focused on clinical work to pay down substantial student loan debt. He honed his clinical care, epidemiology, and clinical research skillsets during that time. He then leveraged his epidemiologic observations, strong institutional support, and the NIH-defined pathway for persons who took a research hiatus to Re-Enter Biomedical Research. Using these mechanisms, he successfully competed for an NIH Re-Entry Supplement under the mentorship of Drs. Matthias Kretzler, William E. Smoyer, and Marvin T. Nieman and retired the remainder of his student loan debt with an NIH Loan Repayment Award. Using preliminary data generated with this important NIH support, he successfully competed for a K08 Career Development Award to pursue training in podocyte biology and coagulation signaling under the mentorship of Drs. Smoyer and Nieman. He has subsequently published his observations and research findings in nephrology and hematology journals, presented his work at (inter)national meetings in both fields, and successfully competed for his first independent NIH grants (an R03 and an R01) as well as industry and society grants (including an HTRS Mid-Career Research Award).

 

DIRECTORS

Gowthami Arepally, MD

Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology
Medical Director of Therapeutic Apheresis,
Vice Chief of Research / Division of Hematology

Duke University Medical Center

President

Wolfgang Bergmeier, PhD

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Arepally's clinical interests lie in immune thrombocytopenias and thrombotic disorders. Current lab efforts focus on the role of complement activation in the immune system and thrombotic complications of HIT, the role of complement in sickle cell alloimmunization, and complement therapeutics.

Dr. Bergmeier is a biomedical researcher working in signal transduction, platelet biology, and hemostasis and thrombosis.  His lab research spans from Harvard Medical School to the Cardeza Foundation for Hematologic Research in Philadelphia to the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. His ongoing work focuses on better understanding small GTPase signaling in platelets and megakaryocytes

Brian R. Branchford, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,
University of Colorado
Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center

Associate Program Director,
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program,
Children's Hospital Colorado

Mary Cushman, MD, MSc

Professor of Medicine and Pathology
Medical Director, Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program
Board Director. Cardiovascular Research Institute
University of Vermont

Dr. Branchford is a physician co-leader for local and national quality/process improvement efforts to develop safe and effective thromboprophylaxis strategies and co-founded the Children’s Hospital-Acquired Thrombosis (CHAT) Clinical Research Consortium.  He also has a basic/translational science lab that focuses on the role of platelet activation signaling in thromboinflammation.

Dr. Cushman's research focuses on causative factors for heart disease, stroke, cognitive impairment and venous thrombosis.  She completed two terms as Board Director for the American Heart Association in 2017 and is Editor-in-Chief of Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, ISTH's open-access journal.

Ming Y. Lim, MBBChir, MSCR

Associate Professor, Division of Hematology
University of Utah

Alan Mast, MD, PhD

Medical Director/Medical Service, Senior Investigator
Versiti/Blood Center of Wisconsin

Associate Professor, Department of Pathology

and of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy
Medical College of Wisconsin

Dr. Lim is the Medical Director for the Utah Center for Bleeding & Clotting Disorders (UCBCD) at University of Utah Health. She has served HTRS in various capacities, including as Co-Chair of both our Fellows Network and ConECCTOR Network, Co-Chair of our Trainee Workshop Planning Committee, past member and future chair of our Research Colloquium Planning Committees, and a longtime member of the Scientific Review Committee for HTRS awards and abstracts. 

Dr. Mast holds the Walter A. Schroeder Endowed Chair for Blood Research and maintains basic science and clinical research programs. Specifically, his basic research investigates vascular biology and the physiology of blood coagulation, and his clinical research investigates iron metabolism and iron deficiency anemia.

Deborah Siegal, MD, MSc, FRCPC

HTRS Canadian Representative

Associate Professor,
Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology
University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Alisa S. Wolberg, PhD


Professor,
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of North Carolina School of Medicine

A Canadian clinician and researcher in thrombosis medicine, Dr. Seigal has developed knowledge translation initiatives in thrombosis medicine for the American College of Cardiology, Thrombosis Canada, and the CanVECTOR Network.  Her goal is to improve cardiovascular outcomes by minimizing harm of anticoagulation in patients at high risk of bleeding.

Dr. Wolberg's expertise is in physiologic and pathophysiologic mechanisms in hemostasis and thrombosis, including in vitro and in vivo models of bleeding and thrombotic disorders. Ongoing lab work includes studies on contributions of fibrin(ogen), factor XIII, and red blood cells to thrombosis, role of female hormones and oral contraceptives in venous thromboembolism, cancer-associated thrombosis, and clot quality in hemophilia and factor XI deficiency.

Ayesha N. Zia, MD, MSCs

Associate Professor,
Department of Pediatrics
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

 

Dr. Zia leads the UTSW Pediatric Hemostasis Thrombosis Center. She also serves as Director of the Medical Center's Young Women's Blood Disorders Program.  Her current research projects are focused on thrombotic outcomes, including functional limitations such as exercise intolerance and dyspnea on exertion and on improving diagnostic strategies, access to care, and quality of life in adolescents with heavy menstrual bleeding and bleeding disorders.  She has served HTRS in many capacities, including as past Vice Chair and upcoming Chair of the HTRS Scientific Symposium Planning Committee, as Faculty for HTRS ConECCTOR Network Meetings and Trainee Workshops, and as a member of our Publication Committee and Scientific Review Committee.

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