This prestigious award recognizes those who have shown an outstanding commitment to the field of hematology
Dr. Mohandas Narla
New York, NY – Mohandas Narla, DSc, Distinguished Scientist at New York Blood Center (NYBC), is the recipient of the 2020 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
The award is ASH’s highest honor and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a lasting commitment to the field through outstanding contributions to education, research and practice. ASH is the world’s largest professional society of hematologists dedicated to furthering the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood. Dr. Narla was chosen for his significant contributions to the hematology field and extensive red blood cell research, as well as his generous mentorship, which brings together researchers from all over the world.
“We are immensely proud of Dr. Mohandas Narla’s extraordinary contributions to hematology and to red blood cell research in particular, which have spanned many decades. He is truly deserving of this exceptional honor,” said Christopher D. Hillyer, MD, President and CEO, of New York Blood Center. “Congratulations to Dr. Narla on this prestigious award and on a phenomenally distinguished career.”
“I am extremely humbled and honored to receive this incredible recognition from my peers at ASH, where I’ve been an active member for nearly 50 years,” said Dr. Narla. “It is particularly gratifying to be the first engineer to receive this prestigious award named after Wallace H. Coulter, who was an engineer himself.”
Dr. Narla’s research has contributed to an improved understanding of the molecular and structural basis for red cell membrane disorders and abnormalities. He is a pioneer in developing novel techniques to study the development of red blood cells from stem cells and he invented the ektacytometer, a tool used to diagnosis to characterize red blood cell abnormalities. He has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and 100 review articles and book chapters.
Dr. Narla has been with NYBC for nearly two decades. Prior to his time with NYBC he was a member of the faculty of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at University of California and later led the Hematopoiesis group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California. Dr. Narla also served as Interim Director of the Human Genome Project for three years. He received his doctoral degree from Washington University in St. Louis in Chemical Engineering in 1971 and completed post-doctoral training in hematology research with Dr. Marcel Bessis at Institute of Cellular Pathology in Paris.
For the last 40 years, Dr. Narla has served on numerous NIH review and advisory panels. He is a member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Advisory Council and has also been a member of numerous committees of the American Society of Hematology, including the Executive Committee and served as the Chairperson of the Awards Committee. He was an Associate Editor of Blood from 2003-2012 and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Blood Cells, Molecules and Diseases and Current Opinion in Hematology.