2020 Annual Report

Abnormal blood clotting has been reported as a complication associated with increased risk of death in patients with COVID-19, particularly hospitalized patients. In response, ASH released new clinical practice guidelines on preventing serious blood clotting complications affecting COVID-19 patients. Although the guidelines were developed rapidly (panel formed in June and Guidelines were released for comment in October), ASH followed its traditional and rigorous guideline development process – including selecting questions, completing systematic reviews, reviewing the evidence, and drafting recommendations. These guidelines will be updated as new evidence continues to emerge. 

The COVID-19 Research Agenda for Hematology is a living document representing fundamental questions that experts in hematology and blood research deem critical to researchers, physicians, and patients. As of December 2020, areas of focus include the relationship between COVID-19 and coagulation and thrombosis, epidemiology and health disparities, hematologic malignancies, hematopoiesis and hematopoietic dysfunction, inflammatory signaling and cytokine release, and transfusion medicine as well as convalescent plasma. 

The ASH Research Collaborative (ASH RC), a non-profit established by ASH in 2018, launched the ASH RC COVID-19 Registry for Hematology, a global public reference tool that captures data on individuals who test positive for COVID-19, have a past or present hematologic condition, and/or have experienced a post-COVID-19 hematologic complication. Health care professionals caring for individuals with a hematologic condition and COVID-19 are encouraged to submit data to the registry. As data are analyzed, real-time observational summaries are available via a public dashboard.

ASH launched the ASH Research Restart Award to reduce the impact that the global COVID-19 pandemic has had on the progression of research and career paths for investigators in hematology. The program provides resources to support resumption of paused research and career stability in an uncertain environment. As of December 2020, 19 recipients received ASH Research Restart Awards.

Launched in 2020, the Minority Hematology Fellow Award (MHFA) encourages early-career researchers from historically underrepresented minority groups in the U.S. and Canada to pursue careers in academic hematology and provides salary support as well as funds to support hematology-focused research projects. This new award further enhances the ASH Awards Pathway, which is designed to support hematologists throughout all stages of their careers. Three award recipients were selected for 2020.

Also launched in 2020, the ASH Minority Hematology Graduate Award (MHGA), part of the ASH Minority Recruitment Initiative, encourages graduate students from historically underrepresented minority groups in the United States and Canada to pursue a career in academic hematology. The award provides funding for students conducting research on hematology-focused projects and is open to doctoral students in their first, second, or third year of graduate school at the time of application.

ASH published new guidelines to help older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and their health care providers make critical care decisions, including if and how to proceed with cancer treatment and the need for blood transfusions for those in hospice care.

ASH continued its efforts to develop evidence-based guidelines for venous thromboembolism (VTE) with the release of additional guidelines on the treatment of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Adaptations of the ASH VTE guidelines for Latin America is anticipated in 2021.  

ASH continued its efforts to develop evidence-based guidelines for sickle cell disease (SCD) with the release of three new guidelines – on the management of acute and chronic pain for patients with SCD, on cerebrovascular disease, and on SCD-related transfusion support. 

In 2020, ASH in collaboration with the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH), National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF), and World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH), developed clinical practice guidelines on Von Willebrand Disease (VWD), covering both diagnosis and management. 

ASH strives to maintain a rich and relevant virtual learning resource library, which was useful in 2020 when so many health care professionals and students were at home and eager to develop or maintain their skill sets. More than 60 ASH webinars were released in 2020 on topics related to COVID-19, implicit bias and health equity, and adapting to distance learning in medical education, among others.

ASH introduced its Hematology Review Series to help combat significant challenges faced by hematology trainees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The free series was designed for fellows preparing to take the internal medicine hematology certification examination (offered in fall 2020 and spring 2021) or those desiring a comprehensive update. Two episodes aired every week starting in October 2020 and leading up to the fall Board Exams. These sessions are available at no cost and cover a wide range of topics in benign and malignant hematology.

ASH converted its Hill days into virtual Hill visits, with more than 50 virtual Hill visits in September alone. ASH sent more than 900 letters to Capitol Hill in 2020, setting a new record. In testimony submitted to Congress and in virtual visits with NIH, ASH highlighted the hematology connection to COVID-19 and referenced ASH’s COVID-19 Research Agenda in Hematology. This led to advocacy wins such as funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – including hematology research funding related to COVID-19.

ASH continued its multi-faceted effort to improve outcomes for individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) in 2020. As a direct result of ASH advocacy efforts, funding was allocated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Data Collection program– this is the first time this program has ever received congressional appropriations. In October 2020, ASH conducted a Congressional Briefing on the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Report  – Addressing Sickle Cell Disease. 

The International Consortium on Acute Leukemia (ICAL) is a clinical network that seeks to improve outcomes for patients with acute leukemia in Latin America by introducing and fostering clinical and laboratory procedures that are considered standard-of-care for treatment. Participating institutions in Latin America faced many challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as resources being redirected to their respective country’s COVID-19 response. The highlight of 2020 was the distribution of the iSeq100 machines, which will allow reference laboratories at participating ICAL sites to develop a next-generation sequencing platform.

In partnership with SickKids Toronto, the Children’s International Consortium on Acute Leukemia (C-ICAL) brought together clinicians and researchers from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas to develop a registry study on the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Similar to the ICAL, the goal of this consortium is to introduce and foster clinical and laboratory procedures that represent the standard of care treatment of ALL in children, while building capacity for conducting clinical trials locally and promoting collaborative laboratory research and drug availability. In 2020, the C-ICAL sites were able to enroll 16 patients in total across five sites in the four participating countries.

The Latin American Registry on Aplastic Anemia (LARAA) aims to create a “proof of concept” registry that will demonstrate collaboration across Latin America, establish common standards, and allow participants to retain ownership of data. A three-year retrospective study will comprise the first phase of the initiative and provide baseline data on the distribution of aplastic anemia and its specific characteristics in the region. In 2020, retrospective data collected from the partner hematology societies in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela were uploaded to the ASH Research Collaborative (ASH RC) Data Hub. 

ASH partners with several national hematology societies abroad to develop joint symposia at their regional meetings. While ASH speakers normally attend these events in person and present a range of educational and scientific content, in 2020 they participated online as most hematology societies around the world transitioned from in-person meetings to virtual ones. This year, for the first time, ASH speakers also presented at the meetings of the Chinese Society of Hematology and the Philippine Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion.

Blood published 849 articles in 2020 – a nearly 8% increase from the previous year – and achieved an Impact Factor of 17.794 – up from 16.601 in 2019. This includes rapidly published Blood articles on COVID-19. Blood also achieved a Google Scholar h5-index of 148 and an Eigenfactor of .20555, along with 165,117 total citations. In 2020, Nancy Berliner, MD, started her tenure as Blood’s newest Editor-in-Chief accompanied by Andrew Roberts, MD, as Deputy Editor. Part of Dr. Berliner’s vision included the launch of a weekly Blood podcast which includes select highlights of each issue.

Blood Advances, ASH’s online, open-access journal, continues to grow in prominence. The journal published 688 articles in 2020, up from 450 articles in 2019. This includes rapidly published Blood Advances articles on COVID-19 and a toolkit for the collection of thrombosis-related data elements in COVID-19 clinical studies. In 2020, Blood Advances achieved an Impact Factor of 4.910, a Google Scholar h5-index of 39, and 3,312 total citations. Several new ASH Clinical Practice Guidelines were published in Blood Advances in 2020 on the topics of AML, SCD, VTE, VWD, and COVID-19.

The year 2020 marked the sixth year of publication of ASH Clinical News, and the first under the leadership of editor-in-chief David Steensma, MD. The magazine’s editorial board expanded to include six associate editors, including its first international board member. Also, a new editorial section was launched, “Day in the Life,” providing a glimpse into the daily lives of hematologists working in a variety of settings. The publication received two Communicator Awards of Distinction from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts in 2020, and published a collection of features and articles related to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In 2020, with the September/October issue, The Hematologist relaunched online. The new site is indicative of the newsletter’s ongoing efforts to improve searchability and overall reader experience. In 2020, The Hematologist covered important topics at the intersection of hematology and COVID-19 treatment. The publication’s popular podcast series also shifted gears with a new series exploring topics important to hematologists during the pandemic.