American Society of Hematology

The following individuals participated in the ASH Visitor Training Program.

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2019

VTP Participant and Training Topic	Host Mentor and Institution
Trixy Chu, MD, BSMedTech (Philippines) Hemoglobinopathies	Madeleine Verhovsek, MD, FRCPC St. Joseph’s Hospital Hamilton, Canada
Silvia Davila Paico, BSc (Peru) Next-Generation Sequencing	Peter Valk, PhD Erasmus MC Cancer Institute Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Joy Ann De Castro, MD (Philippines) Transfusion medicine	Andreas Greinacher, MD Institut Für Immunologie Und Transfusionsmedizin Abteilung Greifswald, Germany
Hanaa Donia, MD (Egypt) Flow cytometry & molecular biology	Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, MD MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Aliyu Doro, BSc (Nigeria) Bleeding Disorders	Johnny Mahlangu, MBBCh, MMed, FCPATH University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa
Chilota Efobi, MBBS (Nigeria) Blood banking & transfusion	Meghan Delaney, DO Children’s National Medical Center Washington, DC
Mohamed El-Shanshory, MD, MBBCh (Egypt) Thalassemia, BMT	Lawrence Faulkner, MD Sankalp India Foundation Bangalore, India
Saima Farhan, MBBS, FCPS (Pakistan) HSCT, BMT in multiple myeloma	Muzaffar Qazilbash, MD MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Deonne Thaddeus Gauiran, MD (Philippines) Diagnosis & management of immune-medicated hematologic disorders	Luke Chen, MD, MEd The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada
Aye Gyi, MBBS, DM, FRCP, MMSc, MRCP (Myanmar) Flow cytometry	Neal Young, MD National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Bethesda, MD
Ruxandra Irimia, MD (Romania) Developing a clinically annotated biorepository	Gabriel Ghiaur, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
Ou Kakada, MD (Cambodia) BMT, management of leukemia, lymphoma, & bleeding disorders	Robert Negrin, MD Stanford University Medical Center Stanford, CA
Falilatou Agbeille Mohamed, MD (Benin) Hemoglobinopathies, SCD	Yves Pastore, MD CHU Sainte Justine Montreal, Canada
Ullas Mony, PhD (India) Clonality assessment & MRD detection by flow cytometry of myeloma patients	Shaji Kumar, MD Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN
Fredrick Okinyi, MD (Kenya) Diagnosis & treatment of lymphomas	Ryotaro Nakamura, MD City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center Duarte, CA
Olusola Olowoselu, MBBS, FRCPath (Nigeria) Hematopoietic SCT	Lakshmanan Krishnamurti, MD Emory University Atlanta, GA
Sitalakshmi Subramanian, PhD, MBBS, MNAMS (India) HLA typing through DNA technology & flow cytometry	Daniel Weisdorf, MD University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
Mesfin Tola, MD (Ethiopia) Flow cytometry	Alden Chesney, MD Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA

2018

VTP Participant and Training Topic	Host Mentor and Institution
Kay Thwe Aung (Myanmar) Diagnosis, management, and treatment of thalassemia	Suradej Hongeng Mahidol University Bangkok, Thailand
M. Patricia Da Silva (Mozambique) Diagnosis and management of patients with hemophilia, Von Willebrand disease, and other rare bleeding disorders	Annette Von Drygalski University of California – San Diego La Jolla, CA
Eman Farrag (Egypt) Diagnosis and management of bleeding and clotting disorders	Annette Von Drygalski University of California – San Diego La Jolla, CA
Shalini Goel (India) Diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndromes and training in flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry	Robert Hasserjian Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA
Jawad Hassan (Pakistan) Training in cytogenetics for diagnosis and evaluation of hematologic diseases	Murty Vundavalli Columbia University Medical Center New York, NY
Fady Hennawy (Egypt) Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation	Sairah Ahmed MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Mahesh Kumar (Pakistan) Training in conventional karyotyping	Vesna Najfeld Icahn School of Medicine Mount Sinai, NY
Mohammed Mabed (Egypt) Allogenic HSCT (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation)	Amir Steinberg Mount Sinai Hospital New York, NY
Mujittaba Mashi (Nigeria) Centrifuge training	Johnny Mahlangu University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa
Nouran Momen (Egypt) Flow cytometry in hematological malignancies	Philip McCarthy Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY
Shano Naseem (India) Sanger Sequencing and Next-Generation Sequencing in AML	Arnold Ganser Hannover Medical School Hannover, Germany
Esther Obi (Nigeria) Training in bleeding and coagulation disorders	Ravindra Sarode UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX
Nishadya Ranasinghe (Sri Lanka) Processing and staining techniques of trephine biopsies	Christina Brown Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Camperdown, Australia
Ranjit Sahoo (India) Haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation	Xiao Jun Huang Peking University Inst. of Hematology Peking, China
Niharika Shah (Nepal) Flow cytometry	Vishala Neppalli Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY
MD Salahuddin Shah (Bangladesh) Flow cytometry	Suparna Nanua St. Luke's Hospital Kansas City, MO
Muhammad Shariq Shaikh (Pakistan) Diagnosis and analysis of acute leukemia using multiparameter flow cytometry	Anne Tierens UHN University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada
Talal Abu Shawfah (Libya) Training in blood film examination related to hemoglobinopathies	Mariane de Montalembert Hôpital Universitaire Necker – Enfants Malades Paris, France
Shinto Thekkudan (India) Training in alternate donor stem cell transplantation	Marcos De Lima Univ. Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center Cleveland, OH
Umar Zahur (Pakistan) Training in stem cell transplantation and management of post-transplant complications	Fiona Dignan Manchester Royal Infirmary Manchester, UK

2017

VTP Participant and Training Topic	Host Mentor and Institution
Gunay Aliyeva, BS, MSc (Azerbaijan) Molecular assays in hemoglobinopathy and thalassemia diagnosis	Carolyn C. Hoppe, MD UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, CA
Daniela Barbieri (Argentina) Next Generation Sequencing for genetic panels for epigenetic markers and mutational profiling	Maria Figueroa, MD University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Miami, FL
Livingstone Dogara, MBBS (Nigeria) Coagulation tests for hemophilia, thrombosis, and hemostasis	Johnny Mahlangu, MD Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital South Africa
Nermeen Eldabah, MBCHB, MSc, MD (Egypt) Cytogenetic analysis for hematological disorders and malignancies	George Deeb, MD Emory University Atlanta, GA
Tushar Idhate, MD (India) Management of sickle cell and thalassemia	Baba Inusa, MD, MRCP Guy’s & St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust London, UK
Raheel Iftikhar, MBBS (Pakistan) Allogenic HSCT (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation)	Ghulam J. Mufti, DM King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust London, UK
Mohammad Islam, MBBS, BCS (Bangladesh) Management of allogenic BMT (bone marrow transplantation) in transfusion dependent thalassemia patients	Vikram Mathews, MD Christian Medical College Vellore, India
Olufunto Kalejaiye, MB, ChB (Nigeria) Morphology and interpretation of immunochemistry, blood film, and bone marrow aspiration slides	Alok Srivastava, MD Christian Medical College Vellore, India
Levani Makhaldiani, MD (Georgia) Autologous bone marrow transplantation for multiple myeloma	Daniel Weisdorf, MD University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
Anali Mora-Alferez, MD (Peru) Diagnosis and management of hereditary hematological neoplasia	Lucy Godley, MD, PhD The University of Chicago Chicago, IL
Ogechukwu Obi, BSc, MBBS (Nigeria) Management of thrombosis and hemostasis/blood clotting	Adam Cuker, MD University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
Veerendra Patil, MD (India) Diagnosis and treatment of pediatric primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs)	Rakesh Goyal, MD Children’s Mercy Hospital Kansas City, MO
Mauricio Postigo MacDowall, MD (Peru) Peripheral blood/marrow morphology	Michael Linden, MD, PhD University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
Khaliqur Rahman, MBBS, MD (India) Complete laboratory workup of lymphoma	Vishala Neppalli, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY
Syed Raza, PhD (India) Molecular genetic testing and diagnosis of AML, CML, MRD, and Thalassemia 1	Te-Chih Liu, MBBS National University Hospital Singapore
Anam Sadiq, PharmD (Pakistan) Developing protocols and standard operating procedures for clinical pharmacy practice in hematology, hem-oncology, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT)	Charles Craddock Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, United Kingdom
Yee Loong Tang, MD (Malaysia) Flow cytometry and clinical data interpretation	George Deeb, MD Emory University Atlanta, GA
Selami Toprak, MD (Turkey) Hematopoietic SCT and management of transplant patients	Koen Van Besien, MD, PhD Weill Cornell University New York, NY
Christiana Udo, MBBCH (Nigeria) Diagnosis and management of bleeding disorders (Hemophilia A & B, and Von Willebrand disease)	Ravindra Sarode, MD UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX
Angela Ugwu, MBBS (Nigeria) Creation and management of an efficient hospital-based blood transfusion system	Andreas Greinacher, MD Institute for Immunology and Transfusion Medicine Greifswald, Germany
Dulanie Wijesekara, MBBS (Sri Lanka) Allogenic and autologous SCT donor recruitment, selection, optimization, conditioning and management of associated complications	Alessandro Rambaldi, MD University of Milan Milan, Italy
Ei Phyo Win, MBBS, MSc (Myanmar) Flow cytometry	Joseph Khoury, MD The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Ayman Youssef, MBBCh (Egypt) Bone marrow transplantation	Ahmed Galal, MD Duke Cancer Center Durham, NC
MD Abdullah Zubayer Khan, MBBS (Bangladesh) Allogenic stem cell transplantation	Thomas Spitzer, MD Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA

2016

VTP Participant and Training Topic	Host Mentor and Institution
Bewketu Abebe Alemu, MD (Ethiopia) Training in interpretation of bone marrow aspirates and trephine biopsies	Brigitte Cantinieaux, MD, PhD CHU St. Pierre & Institute Bordet
Popa Codruta, MD, PhD (Romania) Flow cytometry for detection of MRD in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)	Michael Borowitz, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins
Chinedu Ezekekwu, MBBS (Nigeria) Therapeutic apheresis in the management of sickle cell disease (SCD)	Marilyn Telen, MD Duke University
Marcelo Luide Goncalves, MD, MSc (Brazil) Coagulation tests for thrombosis and hemostasis	Flora Peyvandi, MD, PhD Angelo Bianchi Bonomi Hematology & Thrombosis Center
Rodney Itaki, MBBS, BSc.Med (Papua New Guinea) Interpretation of peripheral smears, bone marrow aspirates; flow cytometry	German Pihan, MD Beth Israel Medical Center
Anu Korula, MBBS, MD, DM (India) Genetic diagnosis, allogeneic transplantation for immunodeficienies	Parinda Mehta, MD Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Misganaw Mengesha, MSc (Ethiopia) Flow cytometry for diagnosis & classification of leukemias	Sung Choi, MD, MS University of Michigan
Dereen Mohammed, MD (Iraq) Training in the CD34 assay for stem cell monitoring; molecular biology for diagnosis of malignant hematology diseases	Angelo Palmas, MD Ospedale San Francesco
Zola Musimar, MD (Botswana) Diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma subtypes	Jeremy Abramson, MD, MMSc Massachusetts General Hospital
Adebola Olu-Taiwo, MBBS, MPH (Nigeria) Diagnosis & management of SCD	Abdullah Kutlar, MD GRU Medical College of Georgia
Anand Prakash, MD, FNB (India) Diagnosis and treatment of pediatric hematolymphoid malignancy	Carlos Alvarado, MD Emory University Children's Center
Don Rohan Pullaperuma, MBBS, MD (Sri Lanka) Management of patients with hemaglobinopathies, especially SCD	Enrico Novelli, MD, MS University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Tatiana Saldarriaga, MD (Peru) Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for malignant & non-malignant hematologic disorders	Monica Thakar, MD Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Christine Sekaggya-Wiltshire, MBChB, MMed (Uganda) Interpretation of peripheral films, bone marrow aspirates & biopsies	Julianne Qualtieri, MD University of Cincinnati
Buddhika Somawardana, MBBS, MD (Sri Lanka) Clinical applications of flow cytometry for the management of hematological malignancies	Michael Andreeff,MD MD Anderson Cancer Center
Jennifer Thame, BSc, MBBS, DMM (Jamaica) Immunophenotyping using flow cytometry for diagnosis of leukemias & lymphomas; adult and pediatric	Michael Linden, MD, PhD University of Minnesota
Chi-kadibia Ukoma, MBBS (Nigeria) FDiagnosis of SCD using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for newborn screening program	Julie Makani, MD, PhD Muhimbili University of Health & Allied Sciences
Yasar Yousafzai, MBBS, PhD (Pakistan) Diagnosis of hematological malignancies using flow cytometry	Mhairi Copland, BSc, MBChB, PhD University of Glasgow

2015

VTP Participant and Training Topic	Host Mentor and Institution
Ademola Adewoyin, MBBS (Nigeria) Transfusion medicine, specifically blood component preparation, aphaeresis, and compatibility testing	Gowthami Arepally, MD Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC
Faiq Ahmed, MBBS, MD (India) Diagnosis and classification of lymphoproliferative disorders	Vishala Neppalli, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY
Mafruha Akter, MBBS, FCPS (Bangladesh) Allogeneic stem cell transplantation	Gary Schiller, MD University of California – Los Angeles School of Medicine Los Angeles, CA
Samir Bele, MBBS, MD (India) Sickle cell disease patient management	Alex George, MD, PhD Texas Children’s Hospital; Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX
Halima Bello-Manga, MBBS, MPH (Nigeria) Sickle cell disease patient management	Adetola Kassim, MD, MS Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN
Daniel Coriu, MD, PhD (Romania) Bone marrow transplantation for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia patients	Mark Levis, MD, PhD The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
Sharat Damodar, MD, DM (India) Haplo-identical and matched unrelated stem cell transplantation	Daniel Weisdorf, MD University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
Silvia Fernández Martínez, MD (Paraguay) FISH and cytogenetics	Fabiola Traina, MD, PhD University of São Paulo Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
Ana Glembotsky, PhD (Argentina) Molecular diagnosis of patients with inherited platelet disorders	Nicole Casadevall, MD Institut Gustave Roussy Villejuif, France
Obinna Iheanacho, MBBS (Nigeria) Donor and therapeutic apheresis	Bruce Sachais, MD, PhD New York Blood Center New York, NY
Mehreen Khan, MBBS, MCPS, FCPS (Pakistan) Haplo-identical bone marrow transplantation	Qaiser Bashir, MD The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Lan Luo, MD (China) Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia assay	Demin Wang, PhD Blood Research Institute and Blood Center of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI
Flordeluna Mesina, MD (Philippines) Development of disease registry for hematologic malignancies	Jorge Cortes, MD The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Chizoba Nwankwo, MBBS (Nigeria) Preparation of blood components/products with emphasis on apheresis	Aleksander Mijovic, MBBS, PhD King’s College Hospital London, UK
Matilda Ongóndi, MD (Kenya) Performance and interpretation of peripheral smears, iron studies, and electrophoresis	Anand Karnad, MD University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, TX
Allan Pernudy, MD (Nicaragua) MRD detection by flow cytometry	Martin A. Horstmann, MD Children’s Cancer Center Hamburg, Germany
Victor Salinas, MD (Paraguay) Allogeneic stem cell transplantation	David Gomez, MD Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León Monterrey, México
Jangbhadur Singh Sarna, MBBS, MD (India) Flow cytometry	Vishala Neppalli, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY
Cyprien Shyirambere, MD (Rwanda) Diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia, peripheral blood smear interpretation, and bone marrow biopsy interpretation	Leslie E. Lehmann, MD Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center Baltimore, MD

2014

VTP Participant and Training Topic	Host Mentor and Institution
Renate Asare, BSc (Ghana) Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry for diagnosis of hematological malignancies	Alok Srivastava, MD Christian Medical College Vellore, India
Adriana Bello, MD (Venezuela) Autologous stem cell transplantation for the treatment of lymphoma	Sergio Giralt, MD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, NY
Jorge Luis Contreras Saavedra, MD (Peru) Optimal care of children undergoing human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched related and unrelated donor stem cell transplantation	Monica Thakar, MD Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI
Reynaldo Angelo De Castro, BSc (Philippines) Accurate diagnosis of newborn screening for thalassemias and hemoglobinopathy	Carolyn C. Hoppe, MD Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland, CA
Ahmet Emre Eskazan, MD (Turkey) Management of patients with patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)	Jorge Cortes, MD The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX
Pamela Fajardo, MD (Philippines) Diagnosis and management of aplastic anemia/bone marrow failure in children	David Williams, MD Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA
Toman Tua Julian, MD (Indonesia) Clinical and laboratory skills regarding hematologic stem cell transplantation especially autologous stem cell transplantation in myeloma	Wee Joo Chng, MD National University Cancer Institute Singapore
Sehar Khaliq, MBBS, FCPS (Pakistan) Prenatal diagnosis of hemoglobin disorders	Suthat Fucharoen, MD Mahidol University Bangkok, Thailand
Pedro Lovato, MD (Peru) Management of lymphoma patients, diagnostic and clinical aspects	Rizwan Romee, MD Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis St. Louis, MO
Aime Mbaya, MD (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Performance and interpretation of smear and bone aspirates	Lekidelu Taddesse-Heath, MD Howard University Hospital Washington, DC
Magdalene Namuwonge, Nursing Officer Diploma (Uganda) Blood bank management, how to improve transfusion safety on the hospital wards and how to prevent, recognize and manage transfusion reactions.	Jeannie Callum, MD Sunnybrook Health and Sciences Centre and University Health Network Toronto, Canada
Onsongo Simon Nyangena, MMed (Kenya) Development of sickle cell patient registry; management of sickle cell patients	Nigel Key, MB, ChB University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC
Sunday Ocheni, MBBS, FMCPath (Nigeria) Human leukocyte antigen (Hla) typing	Ayman Saad, MD Evelina London Children’s Hospital (Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust) London, United Kingdom
Emmanuel Okakpu, MBBS (Nigeria) Laboratory and clinical aspects of Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (Ph-negative MPNs)	Jean-Jacques Kiladjan, MD, PhD Saint-Louis Centre D-Investigations Clinique Paris, France
Ekarat Rattarittamrong, MD (Thailand) Laboratory and clinical aspects of Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (Ph-negative MPNs)	Jean-Jacques Kiladjian, MD, PhD Saint-Louis Centre D’Investigations Clinique Paris, France
Eloísa Riva, MD (Uruguay) Diagnosis and typing of amyloidosis with a focus on how to process samples for typing	Giampaolo Merlini, MD Amyloidosis Research and Treatment Center at the University of Pavia Pavia, Italy
Ninoska Rojas Soto, MD (Peru) Bone marrow transplantation specifically with haploidentical donors	Heather Symons, MD The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
Yuliya Shestovska, MD (Ukraine) Allogeneic stem cell transplantation	Sergio Giralt, MD, and Miguel-Angel Perales, MD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, NY
Zsofia Varady, MD, PhD (Romania) Patient care during myeloablative and non-myeloablative haplo-identical bone marrow transplant	Richard Jones, MD Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Baltimore, MD
Tamunomieibi Wakama, MBBS, FMCPath (Nigeria) Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry immunophenotyping of hematologic neoplasms	Vishalla Neppalli, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute Buffalo, NY

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