ATHNreport Spring 2009 - Board Room

Dr. Keith Hoots was accepted as NHLBI liaison to the ATHN Board in January 2009 as he joined NHLBI as Senior Advisor to the Director in the Division of Blood Diseases and Resources. He is currently Professor of Pediatrics and Division Head of Pediatric Hematology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Section Head of Pediatric Hematology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Medical Director of the Gulf State Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Treatment Center.

Vanessa R. Byams, MPH, Health Scientist, Deputy Team Leader, Epidemiology and Surveillance Team has assumed the position as CDC liaison to the ATHN Board, replacing Roshni Kulkarni. She currently serves as the lead for the CDC’s division of Blood Disorders, Women with Bleeding Disorders (WBD) program. Her responsibilities include developing and implementing new projects related to WBD, managing several epidemiological studies, performing data analyses, and designing surveys. Ms. Byams’ work also includes assessing quality of life among patients with bleeding disorders and coordinating activities related to the development of a surveillance system and registry for patients with hemoglobinopathies. As the Deputy Team Leader, Ms. Byams assists in the administrative and programmatic oversight of all Epidemiology and Surveillance Team programs, including hemophilia, thrombosis, thalassemia, and sickle cell disease. We welcome her to the Board.

Internationally recognized pediatric hematologist Dr. Roshni Kulkarni joins the ATHN Board of Directors as a full voting member. Dr. Kulkarni, a professor in the College of Human Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics and Human Development at Michigan State University has served as the CDC Liaison to the ATHN Board of Directors since November 2006. We thank Roshni for her continuing service and support of ATHN’s mission and vision.