Belinda Avalos, MD
Belinda Avalos, MD, Professor of Medicine and a senior advisor to the President of Atrium Health Levine Cancer, will serve as president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) for a year-long term through December 2025.
Overview
Dr. Avalos is a physician-scientist with a special clinical interest in blood and marrow transplantation, cellular therapy, and congenital neutropenia. She completed her internal medicine residency at The Ohio State University and hematology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of California, Los Angeles. She joined Atrium Health Levine Cancer in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2012.
Dr. Avalos has been a member of ASH for 31 years and has served in various leadership roles, such as on the Health Equity Task Force, the Executive Committee as a Councilor, and Editor-in-Chief of ASH News Daily. As Chair of the Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, she helped guide ASH in the development of new awards to offer opportunities to students and trainees who come from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in hematology.
Dr. Avalos hopes to champion programs that build a broader and more diverse workforce, including ASH’s Global Research Awards—which support future international scientific leaders—and ASH’s Hematology Inclusion Pathway, a comprehensive 13-year longitudinal career pathway of awards that strives to ensure that hematology reflects and serves a diverse world.
“It’s hard to capture the scale of ASH’s work on the global stage. From our awards to the visitor training program and Consortium on Newborn Screening in Africa, ASH is helping hematologists around the world conquer blood diseases,” Dr. Avalos highlighted. “This diversity of geography, ideas, and people help move the field of hematology forward to improve the lives of those living with blood diseases,” she added.
Conclusions
“ASH has played an integral role in my career, and I am proud and honored to serve as its president this year,” stated Dr. Avalos. “I look forward to fostering the next generation of hematologists, expanding ASH’s global reach, and improving health equity in the coming year,” she concluded.
