NEWS
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. – Two University of Oklahoma Health Sciences faculty members were recognized by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) during its annual meeting Dec. 7-10.
James George, M.D., a George Lynn Cross Research Professor in the OU College of Medicine and Hudson College of Public Health, was honored with the ASH Award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity. During his career in academic medicine, George has helped to build a stronger hematology workforce by mentoring the next generation of hematologists.
Under his leadership as ASH president in 2005, the society collaborated with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) to create ASH-funded AMFDP positions in hematology. Since the program’s inception, ASH has supported nearly 30 recipients, many of whom have risen to the ranks of senior faculty in their institutions.
George was also a strong supporter of the ASH Medical Student Award Program, which provides research support for medical students underrepresented in medicine to encourage them to pursue hematology. To date, the program has supported more than 300 research opportunities for medical students. Additionally, George co-developed and directed the ASH Clinical Research Training Institute, an inclusive yearlong program that offers broad education for clinicians on clinical research methods.
Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty, M.D., a professor in the OU College of Medicine and hematologist-oncologist at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, was elected to serve a four-year term as an ASH councilor.
Holter-Chakrabarty’s research background is in leukemia, transplantation and imaging of marrow failure syndromes. An active ASH member since 2003, she is chair of the Committee on Government Affairs, co-chair of the Advocacy Leadership Institute, and served as an appointed member on the Guideline Oversight Committee.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university with campuses in Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. In Oklahoma City, OU Health Sciences is one of the nation’s few academic health centers with seven health profession colleges located on the same campus. OU Health Sciences serves approximately 4,000 students in more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs spanning Oklahoma City and Tulsa and is the leading research institution in Oklahoma. For more information about OU Health Sciences, visit www.ouhsc.edu.
Three University of Oklahoma graduate students have been named winners of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges participants to explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.
Sarah Sharif, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to create innovative light detectors that pick up mid-wave and long-wave infrared signals at higher temperatures than previously considered achievable.
A team from OU and WVU recently earned a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how concept cigarillos influence the potential for addiction. The results will be used to inform the FDA’s impending flavor ban on cigar products and could have wider-reaching implications for other tobacco products that come in flavors, such as e-cigarettes and tobacco-free nicotine pouches.
