American Society of Hematology Selects Doyinsade Awodele to Receive the 2024 ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program
(Chicago, 5.10.2024) – The University of Illinois Chicago Department of Medicine is pleased to announce that Doyinsade Awodele has been selected by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) to participate as one of 13 medical students in the 2024 ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program (MMSAP). Doyinsade was the highest scoring MMSAP awardee, and the award comes with the distinct honor of being the 2024 ASH-Allistair Abraham MRI Award recipient
MMSAP participants will receive funding support to help cover their research projects and additional funding to attend the ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, where they present their research findings at the Promoting Minorities in Hematology event. In addition, each student receives dual mentorship: a research mentor who will oversee the research project, and a career-development mentor who will guide the participant throughout their MMSAP experience and beyond. They will also receive ASH membership throughout medical school and residency.
Doyinsade Awodele’s area of interest includes sickle cell related research as it relates to pregnancy complications and long-term impact of such complications. "My career goals in the field of hematology entails establishing comprehensive newborn screening centers and healthcare facilities in low middle income countries such as Nigeria, engaging in SCD related research within the domains of woman and child health and drug development and championing SCD causes on a public health stage. In addition, I aim to utilize implementation science to integrate evidence based medicine into clinic based processes that will address current and future deficits in healthcare systems in low and middle income countries."
ASH offers multiple options to accommodate the schedules of medical students interested in the program. Medical students can participate in a summer-long program, a year-long program, or a flexible program (MMSAP Flex), which allows them to spread out a shorter research experience throughout one year. These varied options fill existing gaps at critical stages of training in the longitudinal pathway from medical student to hematologist by providing underrepresented trainees with additional opportunities for conducting hematology research and interacting one-on-one with research and career development mentors.
The MMSAP is one of six programs under ASH’s Minority Recruitment Initiative, a series of programs committed to increasing the number of underrepresented minorities training in hematology-related fields and the number of underrepresented hematologists with academic and research.
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is the world’s largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. Since 1958, the Society has led the development of hematology as a discipline by promoting research, patient care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology.