
Aims of the Committee
Request nominations from the IAC Proposed Membership (for cytotechnologist award) and board of directors for various other categories of awards. Evaluate and vote among committee Proposed Members and former award winners. Compile the list of suitable winners and recommend it to the board for approval.
Responsibilities:
- Evaluate the award process and recommend any possible revisions, as needed.
- Coordinate with the communication committee for advertising the winners
- Liaise with the committee on continuing education and quality assurance for an optimal way of presenting the awards at the ICC
Chair

Dr. Fernando Schmitt, MD, FIAC (Portugal)
Professor Fernando Schmitt is a Professor of Pathology at the Medical Faculty of University of Porto, Senior Researcher and Head of Molecular Pathology Unit at IPATIMUP, Director of RISE (Clinical and Translational Research Network of the Medical Faculty), Past-President of the International Society of Breast Pathology and President of the International Academy of Cytology (IAC).

Donna russell, CFIAC (USA)
Donna Russell received her Master’s in Education from the University of Rochester Graduate School of Education and currently is the Education Coordinator of the Cytopathology Resident/Fellowship training program at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York. She has been an employee at UR Medicine for over 30 years. She is also the program director of the Master’s level Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center/Daemen College School of Cytotechnology and is currently teaching her seventh class.

dr. Syed Z. Ali, MD, FRCPath, FIAC (USA)
Prof. Ali serves as Professor of Pathology and Radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as the Director of the Division of Cytopathology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his Pathology residency training at North Shore University Hospital/Cornell University in New York with fellowships in Oncologic Surgical Pathology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Cytopathology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Known globally as an innovative educator, Prof. Ali has well over 375 invited lectures, keynote speeches and visiting professorships all over the world. In collaboration with international societies and universities, he directs or co-directs several annual major cytopathology tutorials.
Prof. Ali has published extensively with over 335 peer-reviewed articles in major scientific journals, over 35 books, book chapters and electronic media. Known for his expertise in “Thyroid” and “Pancreatic” cytopathology, his monograph on “The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology” (now in its 3rd edition) has been translated in 8 languages and is extensively used in medical practice all over the world. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology (JASC) and a past-President of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC). Presently, he serves as the President of the International Academy of Cytology (IAC) and Chair of the International Board of Cytopathology of the IAC. He is a fellow of both the Royal College of Pathologists (UK) and the IAC. He is recipient of the ASC’s “Warren R. Lang Award” in 1996, “President’s Award” in 2012, “Excellence in Education Award” in 2015, the IAC’s “Maurice Goldblatt Award” in 2019, Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology’s “LC Tao Educator of the Year Award” in 2022 and the ASC’s “Papanicolaou Award” in 2023.
