Marina Konopleva, M.D., Ph.D., director of the leukemia program and co-director of the Translational Blood Cancer Institute at Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been selected to receive the 2026 Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize in clinical science from the American Society of Hematology (ASH), one of the field’s highest honors. Named for former ASH president Ernest Beutler, M.D., the award recognizes landmark scientific discoveries that have advanced the understanding and treatment of blood diseases. Each year, the prize honors one investigator for achievements in basic science and another for advances in clinical or translational research that have transformed care for people with hematologic diseases.

Dr. Konopleva, professor of oncology and of cell biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will be honored for her pioneering research on BCL2 and BCLXL, proteins that help leukemia cells evade their natural death signals. Her work has helped transform the treatment of leukemia by identifying new ways to target these proteins, making cancer cells more vulnerable to treatment. She has also uncovered why some patients develop resistance to BCL2-targeted therapies and identified novel treatment combinations to overcome that resistance. A physician-scientist, Dr. Konopleva has led multiple translational research programs that have helped move promising therapies from the laboratory to clinical trials, improving treatment outcomes for patients with acute myeloid leukemia and other blood cancers.

Dr. Konopleva will deliver the Ernest Beutler Lecture, Harnessing the Apoptotic Machinery for Highly Effective Antileukemic Therapeutics, at the 2026 ASH Annual Meeting in December in New Orleans. This year's basic science recipient is Suzanne Cory, Ph.D., of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. Although recognized for independent discoveries, Drs. Konopleva and Cory were honored for complementary scientific contributions that helped lay the scientific foundation for use of venetoclax, the first BCL2 inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Venetoclax is now a key component of standard treatments for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia.