The Incyte Ingenuity Award Program

Dr Shrina Duggal, PharmD, BCOP, is a clinical pharmacy specialist in hematology/oncology/BMT at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center. She has been working as a clinical pharmacy specialist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center since 2007 and has experience in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, managing patients with hematological malignancies and solid tumors and, most recently, in the management of patients receiving various immunotherapy agents. Dr Duggal acts as faculty mentor and adjunct faculty member at West Virginia University School of Pharmacy. She has lectured and taught extensively across the country and holds multiple preceptorships in experiential learning, pharmacy practice, and hematology/oncology/SCT specialty residencies. Dr Duggal is a member of the Hematology Oncology Pharmacists Association, American College of Clinical Pharmacy, and American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.

Gerald W. Cowden is a practicing attorney. He has been representing entrepreneurs, high-growth companies, and financial investors for more than 40 years. Cowden received his BA at Washington and Jefferson College and his JD at the University of Akron School of Law. In addition to his professional career as a Partner at Cowden & Humphrey, he is also a cofounder of a patient advocacy group, the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation. Cowden is currently and has been a member or a trustee of numerous prominent state and national business associations or committees including the Corporate Sections of the Cleveland and Akron Bar Associations, the Corporation Law Committee and Taxation Law Committee of the Ohio Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. In addition, he has served as a judge in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Program and on many corporate and advisory boards for both clients and nonclients. In 2007, in conjunction with his daughter Meredith and his wife Marti, he cofounded the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to raise awareness of the impact of leukemia and GVHD, to fund research for GVHD, and to provide financial support for nonmedical expenses associated with blood cancers. Every year the Cowden Foundation holds the GVHD National Symposium where research physicians present the latest and greatest methods to help patients living with GVHD. In 2019, the Cowden Foundation received the Lifeblood Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Most recently, in February 2020, Cowden received the Public Service Award from the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy to honor the work of the Cowden Foundation. Cowden lives in Akron with his wife of 50 years and has two daughters, Margaux and Meredith.

Dr Navneet Majhail, MBBS, MD, MS, is the Director of the Blood & Marrow Transplant Program at the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, and Professor of Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. He has also previously served as President of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. Dr Majhail specializes in the care of adult patients receiving blood and marrow transplantation. His research focuses on transplant outcomes, health services and health policy issues in blood and marrow transplantation, and quality of life and late effects in transplant survivors, including patients with graft-versus-host disease. His research has been funded by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the National Institutes of Health.  

Peggy Burkhard is the Executive Director of the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link (nbmtLINK), an independent non-profit organization, founded in 1992. The mission of the nbmtLINK is to help patients, caregivers, and families cope with the social and emotional challenges of bone marrow/stem cell transplant and CAR-T cellular therapy from diagnosis through survivorship by providing vital information and personalized support services. Burkhard began her career in New York City in the publishing business before moving to Michigan and working for several organizations and non-profits as a public relations and marketing professional. Prior to joining nbmtLINK, Burkhard had spent the last 20 years promoting organ, tissue, and eye donation with the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan. The nbmtLINK provides several services and resources designed to meet the needs of bone marrow/stem cell transplant patients, survivors, caregivers, and health professionals around the globe. Various services include several original publications written in easy-to-understand language, a Peer Support On Call program, an award-winning Marrow Masters podcast, popular Lunch & Learn monthly call-in programs, a Celebrating Second Birthdays program, webinars and podcasts, and an original Emmy-award winning documentary, The New Normal. Now in its 29th year, the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link continues to provide educational, psychosocial, and personalized support to people facing this daunting medical journey. The nbmtLINK has formed alliances with many of the major transplant centers in the US. These LINK partnerships provide an avenue of communication between the organization and these hospitals. Additionally, the LINK collaborates with other major cancer-related organizations such as the Meredith A. Cowden Foundation, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Be the Match, DKMS, and the National Institutes of Health.

Dr Miguel-Angel Perales is the Chief of the Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, as well as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is an internationally recognized leader in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy and serves as Chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Transplantation and Cell Based Therapies Committee, as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Be The Match (National Marrow Donor Program - NMDP), and Vice-President of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT, former ASBMT). He also holds leadership positions and has been extensively involved in activities of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) and Blood and Marrow Transplantation Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). Dr Perales received his MD from the Free University of Brussels and completed his postdoctoral training at the Tufts Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr Perales has over 250 publications including peer-reviewed articles, position papers, guidelines, book chapters, editorials, and invited reviews. He has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international meetings over the past 20 years.