Dr. Richard Aster, a senior investigator at the Versiti BloodCenter of Wisconsin’s Blood Research Institute in Wauwatosa, will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of BizTimes Media’s annual Health Care Heroes Awards program.
The winners of the Health Care Heroes Awards will be honored at a breakfast event on Friday, Dec. 14, from 7-9:30 a.m., at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee. The event, sponsored by Concordia University Wisconsin, will include a panel discussion on the region’s opioid crisis. Click here to register for the event.
Aster has worked for the BloodCenter of Wisconsin for 48 years, and led the organization from 1970-96 first as executive director from 1970-75 and then as president from 1975-96.
He has one of the longest-running, fully-funded National Institutes of Health research grants, which was received in 1970 and is still active today. Aster, who is also a professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has authored more than 300 scientific papers, and been published in the world’s top scientific and clinical journals.
His research has focused on platelets and the body’s immune reaction to them. His research in the 1980s pioneered the first marrow transplant to a leukemia patient from an unrelated donor. That led to the establishment of a national program to recruit marrow donors, the National Marrow Donor Program, which now as 16 million donors in its registry.
In 2012, Aster received the Henry M. Stratton Medal from the American Society of Hematology for his work in the study of immune disorders that affect blood cells. He has been an active member of ASH since 1964.
Aster was also the co-founder of the BloodCenter Research Foundation and the Great Lakes Hemophilia Foundation.
“(Aster) is a true health care pioneer,” said Fay Spano, director of communications for the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, part of Versiti. “He is internationally recognized by his peers as a visionary researcher and physician for his advancements in transfusion medicine and particularly in platelet and immunohematology research.”
Here is the full list of the 2018 Health Care Heroes Award winners:
Lifetime Achievement
- Richard Aster, Versiti/BloodCenter of Wisconsin Blood Research Institute
Advancements in Health Care
- Parameswaran Hari, Medical College of Wisconsin
Behavioral Health
- C. Frederick Geilfuss II, Grand Avenue Club
- Robert Gouthro, Medical College of Wisconsin
- Robin Monson-Dupuis, Aurora Behavioral Health Services
Community Service
- Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center Community Advisory Board
- Ascension Wisconsin – Be of Good Heart program
- David Nelson, Medical College of Wisconsin
Executive Leadership
- Coreen Dicus-Johnson, Network Health
- Patricia Metropulos, Kathy’s House
Health Care Staff
- Sheila Dodds, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Nurse
- Mariya Gozenpud, IndependenceFirst Inc.
- Julie Katrichis, Milwaukee Health Dept.
- Brianne Ortega, Waukesha County Public Health
Physician
- Frank Downey, Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center
- Adnan Nazir, Taha Medical Center
- Ronald Schulgit, Ascension Medical Group – Racine
Volunteer
- Dawn Panfil, Hair & Body Solutions Salon and Spa
