Task Force Members: Mandy Lauw, Chairman Mandy Lauw (30, The Netherlands) is a Research Fellow at the Departments of Vascular Medicine and Hematology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and a medical resident specializing in Internal Medicine at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam. She completed her Medical Degree (2010, with honors) at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She continued at the same institution to obtain her Ph.D. in 2015, focusing on thrombosis in hematological malignancies. She is also a visiting Research Fellow at the Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada. Her areas of research interest include venous thromboembolism, particularly in patients with hematological malignancies, NETs and nucleosomes, anticoagulation and reversal strategies, anticoagulation therapy in venous thromboembolism and atrial fibrillation, epidemiology, and translational research. She has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013, and became the Chairman of the Task Force in 2015 after the ISTH Congress in Toronto. Her mission is to create an active and integral role for the Early Career Task Force, and for early career professionals in general, within the ISTH and its activities, and to assist in customizing ISTH activities even more to the interests of early career professionals, aiming to support early career professionals worldwide in their enterprise in becoming an independent senior physician and/or scientist in the field of thrombosis and hemostasis. Geoff Barnes, Immediate Past Chairman Geoff Barnes (35, USA) is a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, USA. He completed his medical school at the University of Michigan (2007). He then completed a chief residency (2011) in internal medicine, cardiology fellowship (2014) and vascular medicine fellowship (2014) at the University of Michigan, and is currently finishing a 2-year research fellowship. His areas of research interest include quality improvement and implementation, shared decision making for patients on anticoagulants with atrial fibrillation or venous thromboembolism. He was the inaugural Chairman of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013, and continued as a member of the Task Force since the ISTH meeting in Toronto, 2015. He very much enjoys being on the Task Force because of the opportunity to meet other early career scientists from around the world, and to help them engage with the ISTH and JTH. He also works on the ISTH Education Committee, helping to organize the webinar series.
Marc Blondon Marc Blondon (37, Switzerland) is a medical doctor at the Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. He previously received training in Internal Medicine (Geneva) and in Epidemiology (UW, Seattle). He is currently a fellow in Vascular Medicine (angiology) at the Division of Angiology and Haemostasis of the Geneva University Hospitals. His areas of research interest include venous thromboembolism, specifically with regards to women s issues (hormone therapy and pregnancy), recurrent thrombosis, and hospital thromboprophylaxis. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Toronto, 2015. He believes that the Early Career Task Force represents a unique opportunity to make a difference for early career investigators within the ISTH, in order to promote their training and work in the field of Thrombosis & Hemostasis. Yacine Boulaftali Yacine Boulaftali (France) is a research assistant at INSERM, Paris, France. He received his PhD at the University of Paris, France, focusing on an inhibitor of serine proteases, protease nexin-1 (PN-1), with respect to thrombosis, fibrinolysis and atherosclerosis. After his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Thomas Jefferson University, after which he assumed a postdoctoral position at UNC Chapel Hill, NC, USA, joint with the Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry and McAllister Heart Institute. His areas of research interest include platelets and vascular integrity during acute inflammatory insult and platelet-signaling pathways. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013. Caterina Casari Caterina Casari (34, France/USA) is an Italian molecular biologist. She obtained her Ph.D. in Italy, finished her first postdoctoral position in Paris, France, and in 2014, moved to North Carolina, USA, for a second postdoctoral position at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Her areas of research interest include von Willebrand Disease, particularly von Willebrand Disease type 2B, and other thrombocytopenias. She has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH meeting in Amsterdam, 2013. Being a member of the Early Career Task force, she enjoys being able to exchange ideas with people from different countries, with different background and experiences. She hopes to be involved with more early career professionals in ISTH and in Early Career Task Force projects.
Matthew Harper Matthew Harper (33, UK) is a lecturer (assistant professor) at the Pharmacology Department, University of Cambridge, UK. He previously completed a natural sciences degree at Cambridge University and stayed to complete his Ph.D. on the regulation of calcium signaling in platelets. He held a postdoctoral position at the University of Bristol, UK. He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and the Editorial Advisory Panel of the Biochemical Journal. His areas of research interest include the pharmacology and physiology of platelets in arterial thrombosis, and in drug-induced vascular injury. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Toronto, 2015, and hopes to help promote the position of early career investigators within ISTH, and to support early career investigators in their next steps towards an independent research career. Ketan Kulkarni Ketan Kulkarni (Canada) is an assistant professor of Pediatrics in the division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology and Department of Pediatrics at the IWK Health Center, Halifax, NS, Canada. He is also cross-appointed at the Department of Medicine. His main clinical interests include thrombosis in high risk populations such as oncology, cardiology, intensive care patients, and leukemia in addition to ongoing management of children with hematological and oncological disorders. He previously completed his training in the field of Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Thrombosis at the University of Alberta, AB, Canada, and developed his interests in the aforementioned areas during his training. His areas of research interest include thrombosis in high-risk pediatric populations such as pediatric oncology, cardiology and intensive care patients. He is also actively engaged in collaboration with basic and translational researchers to find innovative ways of improving the care of pediatric hematology oncology patients. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013. Joshua Muia Joshua Muia (36, USA) is originally from Nairobi, Kenya, and is an Instructor in Medicine at the Division of Hematology and Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO). He is a biochemist by training. He obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry/ bioinorganic chemistry at Western Michigan University (USA) and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO, USA). His areas of research interest include ADAMTS13, von Willebrand factor and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013. Since joining the Early Career Task Force, his efforts have been focused on getting other early career investigators to draft and/or edit guidance documents.
Pedro Las Casas Pedro Las Casas (27, Brazil) is a medical doctor and Hematology and Hemotherapy fellow at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has created a network in Latin America among early career professionals to improve the exchange of knowledge in several ways. His areas of research interest include thromboprophylaxis in oncology patients and the incidence of venous thromboembolism, and the role of immune tolerance induction in hemophilia patients. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Toronto, 2015, and is proud to be part of the Task Force. He hopes to contribute by reaching and involving many other early career professionals in the field of thrombosis and hemostasis, particularly in Latin America, with the ISTH and its activities. Nicoletta Riva Nicoletta Riva (32, Italy) is a medical doctor specialized in internal medicine. For several years, she was a Research Fellow at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Insubria, Varese (Italy). She is currently doing a PhD-fellowship at the Department of Pathology, University of Malta, Msida (Malta). Her areas of research interest include anticoagulant treatment for venous thromboembolism and atrial fibrillation. She has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013. She believes the Early Career Task Force forms a great link between the ISTH and early career professionals from all over the world, is happy to be in a position that enables her to contribute to the important mission to actively engage this group with the activities of the ISTH. Gevorg Tamamyan Gevorg Tamamyan (28, Armenia) is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Oncology of Yerevan State Medical University in Yerevan, Armenia. He has recently finished a postdoctoral fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Leukemia (Houston, TX, USA) and a visiting scientist fellowship at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (Boston, MA, USA). His areas of research interest include chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia, acute leukemias and global hematology and oncology issues. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Amsterdam, 2013. One of his main motivations to be a member of the Task Force is to improve the field of thrombosis, hemostasis and hematology globally through networking and collaboration, particularly of early career professionals.
Jun Wu Jun Wu (40, China) is a medical doctor and the director of the Department of Laboratory Medicine of Beijing Jishuitan hospital, the 4th affiliate hospital of Peking University, China. He obtained his Medical Degree at Peking University and completed his Postdoc at Lund University, Sweden. He is also the director of the Chinese Youth Society of Laboratory Medicine, director of the Beijing thrombosis and hemostasis task force of Beijing Medical Association, the secretary for the Beijing Clinical Laboratory Management Association, and a member of the Council of the Chinese Doctor Association for Laboratory Medicine. His areas of research interest include thrombosis and hemostasis, inflammation, surgery and venous thromboembolism, hypercoagulability evaluation, and anticoagulation monitoring. He has been a member of the ISTH Early Career Task Force since the ISTH Congress in Toronto, 2015. He hopes that by being a member of the Early Career Task force, he can help improve collaborations of Chinese medical centers with American or European centers, to share experiences.