Program Leadership
Lawrence Brass, MD, PhD
I have been an NIH- and AHA-funded investigator, a practicing hematologist and a mentor for medical students, graduate students, resident, fellows and postdocs since 1982. My research and clinical interests are in thrombosis and hemostasis with an emphasis on platelet and vascular biology. The currently active research efforts within my research group focus on understanding 1) how intrinsic regulators impact platelet biology and platelet-related pathology, 2) how architecture relates to function in hemostasis and thrombosis, 3) how the dense crowding-together of activated platelets fosters the local accumulation of thrombin, and 4) the ability of platelets to support vascular integrity under homeostatic conditions. I believe that these questions are best answered through approaches that combine intravital imaging, mouse models, the study of human platelets in vitro and in vivo, the use of devices that test platelet responsiveness under physiologic flow conditions, computational analysis, and the analysis of human gene variants. Increasingly, this means using a systems approach to combine increasingly large data sets on the platelet signaling network with emerging ideas about platelet activation as it occurs in the complex environment found in vivo. For this research I have been elected to the ASCI and AAP, and received the Distinguished Career Award from the International Society of Hemostasis and Thrombosis.
Ivan Maillard, MD, PhD
I am a physician-scientist and a participating faculty member in the Hematology Research Training Program, because I am fully committed to the training of the next generation of physician-scientists and scientists in hematology-related research. As part of my participation in the education mission of the University, I have served as Vice-Chief for Research in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, co-PI of the Abramson Cancer Center T32 research training program, member of the MSTP admissions committee, graduate trainer of two post-doctoral fellows supported by the Hematology Research Training Program, lecturer for the CAMB and Immunology graduate groups, and course director of a grant writing class for immunology students. Before joining the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, I have been an active member of four graduate programs during 10 years as a faculty member at the University of Michigan (2007-2017), where I served on 39 doctoral committees and on the MSTP operating committee. My students have had successful research experiences including numerous publications as well successful competition for F30 training grants. My post-doctoral fellows have successfully competed for a range of awards including from ASH, ASTCT, ASCO, the Doris Duke Foundation and NIH. As part of my participation in this program, I can provide training in areas of research that broadly include experimental hematopoiesis, bone marrow transplantation research, cellular immunology and Notch signaling biology. Additional information about my research interests can be found in the Contributions to Science sections of this Biosketch. I am committed to pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training, and I have trained 7 pre-doctoral and 7 post-doctoral fellows. As a faculty trainer and principal investigator, I am fully committed to the responsible conduct of research, thoughtful mentorship for my trainees at all levels, and the promotion of a safe, inclusive and supportive research training environment. This commitment includes my willingness to 1) provide all of my mentees with training in rigorous and unbiased experimental design, methodology, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of results, 2) participate in mentorship and unconscious bias training programs. I also recognize that an important part of my role as a mentor is to help my predoctoral trainees complete their degrees in a timely fashion with the skills, credentials, and experiences that they will need to sustain careers in the biomedical research workforce, and to help my postdoctoral trainees develop and achieve their career goals.