The American Society of Hematology: a success at age 50.

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) turns 50 years old in 2008, and we have much to celebrate. Over those years the Society established its principles: to promote both the art and science of hematology and to hold a high-quality Educational Meeting. ASH membership has grown from a few hundred curious attendees at a planning meeting in 1957 to more than 15,000 members today, and the annual meeting has grown from a scientific session of 5 papers at the planning meeting to more than 500 oral presentations and nearly 2,500 poster presentations at the 2007 meeting. The modern ASH promotes cutting-edge science, sponsors research by scholars from all over the globe, helps train the next generation of clinician-scientists, lobbies Congress and several other governmental agencies on behalf of its clinician and scientist members, and publishes the foremost scholarly journal in the field of hematology, Blood, designed to provide its readership with timely reviews, expert opinion on clinical hematology, practice-changing clinical trials, and insightful basic science. The next 50 years of ASH are likely to see many profound changes, but one thing is almost certain-our dedication to fostering clinical and scientific excellence in hematology will continue as the Society's raison d'etre.