Toshio Suda, MD, PhD
E. Donnall Thomas, MD
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) presented the 2020 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize to Toshio Suda, MD, PhD, of the National University of Singapore and Japan’s International Research Center for Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, for his outstanding contributions to the field of stem cell research.
Named after the late Nobel Prize laureate and Past President of ASH E. Donnall Thomas, MD, the award was established in 1992. The E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize recognizes pioneering research achievements in hematology that represent a paradigm shift or significant discovery in the field. Dr. Suda presented his lecture at the 62nd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition.
“It is a great honor for a stem cell biologist like me to receive the award named after Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, a renowned expert in bone marrow transplantation,” said Dr. Suda. “I am grateful to be acknowledged by ASH, and I accept this award with gratitude to my colleagues, whose hard work has been critical to our discoveries.”
Advancing Understanding of Hematopoiesis
Dr. Suda is internationally respected for his 40-year career, during which he has focused predominantly on hematopoietic stem cells and the stem cell niche. His work has encompassed the purification of hematopoietic stem cells, identification of cytokine signaling in hematopoiesis, and characterization of hematopoietic stem cell niches in the bone marrow. Through his research, Dr. Suda has provided new insights into molecular regulation of hematopoietic stem cells. He identified the metabolism in the hypoxic niche for hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow and established the new field of oxidative stress in hematopoietic stem cells.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Suda has trained more than 100 graduate students in Japan, many of whom have become professors or primary investigators at various universities and are now leading research into stem cell biology, cancer biology, and clinical hematology.
