The National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) is pleased to announce the 2018 NHF-Shire Clinical Fellowship award recipients: Hanny Al-Samkari, MD, of Boston Hemophilia Center/Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, and Michael H. White, MD, of Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).
Funded through the generous support of Shire, the NHF-Shire Clinical Fellowship Program was developed to attract new physicians to the field of non-malignant hematology and support their continued development as clinician-researchers. The goal of this program is to increase the overall number of physicians committed to a career in bleeding disorders by providing them with high-quality mentored training from both a clinical and research perspective. NHF-Shire Clinical Fellows are nominated by program directors from 23 leading academic training centers in the U.S.
Dr. Hanny Al-Samkari received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was elected to AOA. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Chief Medical Resident. He completed his fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute-Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) combined program. During his fellowship, he strengthened his passion for classical hematology, and hemostasis and thrombosis in particular, under the primary mentorship of Dr. David Kuter at MGH. His fellowship research focused on novel indications for the thrombopoietin receptor agonists, resulting in multiple publications.
While an NHF-Shire Clinical Fellow, Dr. Al-Samkari will acquire a clinical and research expertise in hemophilia and rare bleeding disorders under the mentorship of Dr. Stacy Croteau at Boston Children’s Hospital and Drs. Eric Grabowski and Larissa Bornikova at MGH and will lead the hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia clinic at MGH under the mentorship of Dr. David Kuter. Dr. Al-Samkari is also a dedicated medical educator and member of the American Society of Hematology Benign Hematology Curriculum Initiative. He taught in and acted as course master for several courses while he was a fellow and continues to be is active in teaching medical students, residents, physician assistants, and physician assistant students.
Dr. Michael H. White is a pediatric hematology and oncology fellow at Emory University/CHOA. He earned his undergraduate degree in biology from Harding University and completed his medical degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He went on to complete his general pediatrics residency training at Vanderbilt University. He is currently enrolled in the Masters of Science in Clinical Research program at Emory University, and has been awarded funding through the NIH TL1 trainee grant for his focus on multi-disciplinary clinical and translational science. Dr. White is also the Chair Elect of the HTRS Fellows Network and serves as a board member for the International Health Care Foundation.
As an NHF-Shire clinical fellow, Dr. White will receive specialized clinical training in the Comprehensive Bleeding Disorders Clinic and Women and Girls’ Bleeding Clinic at CHOA under the mentorship of Drs. Robert Sidonio and Shannon Meeks. In addition to his clinical focus treating patients with disorders of hemostasis and thrombosis, Dr. White will pursue his clinical research characterizing the management and outcomes of heavy menstrual bleeding in adolescents with bleeding disorders and in those who are taking anticoagulant or antiplatelet medications.
The NHF-Shire Clinical Fellowship award provides up to $100,000 annually to support two years of training at the fellow’s institution. Since its inception, 36 fellows have received this prominent fellowship award. Many graduates of this program are now serving as “mentors” themselves and training new hematology fellows. Several other graduated fellows are accomplished clinician-researchers or running bleeding and clotting treatment center programs, as either medical directors or co-directors of centers.
