Haris Ali, MD, is an MPN Hero for making every patient in his care feel like they are his number one priority. Through his role as Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, Dr. Ali treats many patients every day, but he takes the time with each one to listen, comfort, educate, and encourage. He explains the treatment options available with clarity and compassion, empowers his patients to be partners in making their own care decisions, and guides them to celebrate even small victories in their treatment journeys. He becomes part of the family, taking an interest in patients’ lives, and making sure they have all the support and resources they need, beyond medication and treatment. He even makes himself available outside of his working hours to meet with patients who have traveled from other areas.

Dr. Ali became interested in MPNs during his medical training when he worked with a mentor who educated him about the field of bone marrow transplant. Witnessing firsthand how these procedures can significantly benefit patients helped him realize his passion for this area of medicine.

In addition to his day-to-day care for MPN patients, Dr. Ali is also involved in research studies aimed at evolving and improving treatments for MPNs. He and the team at City of Hope are investigating cutting-edge procedures and processes, such as gene therapy and treatment of post-transplant relapse, that could be pivotal in caring for patients with blood cancers in the future.

Aïcha Diallo, MPH, CHES, is an MPN Hero for her unceasing efforts to enable patients to take control of their own healthcare experience. As Vice President of Programs at Patient Empowerment Network (PEN), Aïcha oversees initiatives that enhance health knowledge, expand access to financial support, and provide educational resources and community connections to empower patients at every stage of their MPN journey. Her programs prioritize health literacy and care equity, including alleviating economic barriers and expanding digital health programs to bridge the digital divide, broadening patient access to critical resources.

Aïcha has always viewed her work through the lens of the patient, but her own diagnosis with essential thrombocythemia (ET) two years ago deepened her commitment to patient-centered care. She is determined to ensure that the programs she creates are accessible and understandable regardless of a person’s prior level of medical knowledge or care space experience.

Through Aïcha’s leadership, PEN’s programs have reached thousands of MPN patients and care partners nationwide. Aïcha was even recognized as an Aspen Ideas Health Fellow in 2024 because of the tangible impact of her work in the MPN community.

Salman Fazal, MD, is an MPN Hero for his continuous efforts to improve the lives of people living with MPNs through better treatment options and personalized care. From his early days of caring for MPN patients, he recognized that the patient population had unmet needs, as there were no MPN specialists or FDA-approved therapies. He got involved enrolling patients in the clinical studies happening at the time, but he recognized that there was more work to be done in the field, so he established the clinical program at the Allegheny Health Network. This has carried over to his position at West Penn Hospital, where he continues to advance science through clinical studies, as well as running the bone marrow transplantation program.

In addition to acting as the principal investigator for numerous MPN studies exploring novel therapies and treatment protocols, Dr. Fazal uses his time to train other physicians in MPN patient care. He shares his expertise through mentoring and lecturing as well as publishing his clinical findings. He also speaks at Blood Cancer United’s Blood Cancer Conferences and participates in patient support groups because it is important to him that patients are knowledgeable about their disease and treatment options.

Dr. Fazal is known for personalized and empathetic care, ensuring that each MPN patient receives the most effective and tailored treatment. He has even been named as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor since 2024, a peer-nominated award where a doctor is recognized for excellence by colleagues in their field.

Katherine Mast Hagemann is an MPN Hero for never forgetting that patient care is about more than just treating the disease. As an outpatient clinic nurse at the Moffitt Cancer Center for over 5 years, Katherine has had the opportunity to meet hundreds of patients diagnosed with MPNs, and she understands that every one of them has a unique story. The uncertainty and worry that often come with a chronic cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming, so Katherine makes sure to have what she terms “emotional support visits” with each patient, where they can take as much time as they need to talk through their fear and anxiety and be met with empathy and kindness. While the clinical side of a patient’s treatment is important, Katherine knows that taking the time to treat each patient with compassion is just as valuable.

In addition to her deep level of understanding and caring, Katherine also uses her impressive knowledge of MPNs to help reassure and encourage her patients. She breaks down the disease process, describing the scientific and molecular mechanisms in a way that is easy to understand. She explains about possible treatment side effects and coordinates the patient’s care plan, scheduling appointments in appropriate timeframes and clarifying why it is important to be seen in these intervals. Her job also frequently includes staff education and collaboration with social workers when needed.

Katherine always knew she wanted to work in health care, and she chose nursing because she wanted to interact with people, to get to know her patients and build relationships with them. She takes the time to truly listen to every person who comes through the clinic, and they leave their appointments feeling heard. Katherine recognizes that treatment of the disease is just part of the journey that patients with cancer experience, and her empathy and compassionate care make them feel that they are not alone.

Julie Huynh-Lu, PA-C, is an MPN Hero for going above and beyond to share knowledge with other healthcare professionals to ensure that every MPN patient receives the best care and treatment plan possible to fit their individual needs. As a Supervisor and Advanced Practice Provider at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Julie has become an expert in the field and uses her knowledge to guide her patients and their caregivers as well as her colleagues.

Julie has been working with patients diagnosed with MPNs since 2015 and has developed her own MPN clinic at MD Anderson. She takes an interest, not only in her patients’ MPNs, but also in them as people, and she takes the time to explain the disease thoroughly and make sure they understand the treatment plan that has been developed for them. For her colleagues, Julie is always available to talk through the best way to manage an MPN patient case and to share her expert advice.

Julie’s commitment to educate within the MPN healthcare provider community extends beyond the clinic at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is passionate about collaborating and educating across disciplines to ensure comprehensive care for patients. She participated on a regional polycythemia vera (PV) NP/PA advisory board and has presented on topics related to MPNs to other registered nurses and advanced practice providers as well.

Jo Ann Mannino is an MPN Hero for her devotion to improving the daily lives of people living with MPNs through education and community support. For the past 5 years, she has been on the Board of Directors of the MPN Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization run by volunteer MPN patients. Living with polycythemia vera (PV) herself, Jo Ann understands the impact that MPNs have on all parts of a person’s life. She dedicates her time to making sure that MPN patients do not feel alone and have access to the information they need to help make the best decisions to maximize their health and live life fully, beyond being patients.

Jo Ann prioritizes the importance of communication within the MPN community. As part of her duties as a Board member, she organizes the biennial doctor/patient conference at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. She also organizes a monthly support group meeting in the NYC area and regularly speaks to patients one-on-one. In addition, she has been a member of the online support group MPN-NET for over 20 years. More recently, she has taken on some of the administrative duties for that group. In this role, Jo Ann helps to facilitate an environment where patients and caregivers can freely discuss both clinical and nonclinical aspects of living with MPNs with others who are experiencing the same challenges.

Jo Ann is also involved in the Foundation’s efforts to help advance the science of MPN treatment. She is currently working with the team at Mount Sinai in New York to obtain funding for an exploratory trial. The trial seeks to learn if certain lower-cost treatment options could provide clinical benefits, and then to offer that trial more widely through the MPN medical community.

Kapila Viges is an MPN Hero because of her passion for improving the quality of life for people living with MPNs through better and more impactful treatments. Working in oncology and rare diseases, she discovered that MPNs are not well understood and that their chronic nature makes them an unusual challenge for healthcare professionals and patients alike. Now in her fifth year as the CEO of the MPN Research Foundation, Kapila focuses her energy and drive on furthering the foundation’s mission to fund and advance new treatments. She also leads initiatives to increase awareness and understanding of MPNs among healthcare professionals and the public.

A scientist and engineer by training, Kapila has always been interested in taking innovative science from lab to market. Through her background working with emerging biotech companies and research teams at universities, Kapila learned that the 10- to 12-year process of bringing a new medication to the public is collaborative. The best outcomes are reached when patients have input alongside the research community throughout the medication development life cycle. With that goal in mind, she created the first staff position at the MPN Research Foundation that is solely dedicated to patient engagement, which in turn led to the formation of the Patient Impact Council. She is also working to build a comprehensive MPN patient registry, an initiative that would involve the cooperation of the entire MPN community and could provide real-world data that could help shape the future of the MPN treatment landscape.

The members of the Washington University MPN Clinical Research Team are MPN Heroes for unfailingly delivering unparalleled patient care while simultaneously keeping multiple clinical trials running seamlessly. The four clinical trial coordinators on this team, Nicole Gaudin, Karyn Gordon, Maggie Cox, and Julie White, perform a non-stop list of tasks required to keep up to 10 different clinical trials running at the same time, but they never let that get in the way of putting the patients first.

The team members prescreen patients to see who is eligible for trials; meet regularly with patients who are already participating in the clinic’s trials; dispense trial medication; and arrange for EKGs, MRIs, biopsies, CTs, and other tests. They also visit other clinics within the university to assess patients who may be eligible, physically escort patients to other locations on campus as needed, coordinate patient visits, schedule procedures, and keep all documentation well-organized and up to date. Despite this heavy task load, they never forget that communication and patient support are the most important elements. They make sure they are always available to answer patient questions and concerns, respond promptly to messages on MyChart, teach patients how to dose correctly, and make sure patients have all the necessary supplies. They understand that patients often come from hundreds of miles away to participate in these MPN trials, so in addition to the clinical tasks, the clinical trial coordinators also help patients arrange transportation and accommodations when they come to St. Louis. They do everything they can to put patients at ease and make their clinical trial participation as smooth as possible.

In addition, the team also supports Washington University’s tissue banking program, which provides essential blood and bone marrow samples for the research conducted by laboratories across the university. They have collected samples from over 800 MPN patients, which have helped inform newly published research in the MPN field, hopefully leading to even better patient care in the future.