Dr. Ruchika Goel to be named Endowed Chair in Hematologic Disorders August 26
SIU School of Medicine is proud to announce that Ruchika Goel, MD, MPH, will be the inaugural recipient of the O.H. Wesly Endowed Chair of Excellence in Hematologic Disorders at SIU School of Medicine. The investiture ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, August 26, in the South Auditorium, 801 N. Rutledge St. in Springfield. A reception will immediately follow in the Atrium at 825 N. Rutledge.
An endowed chair is among the highest honors in academic medicine, recognizing the person for whom the chair is named and also the faculty member who holds the chair.
Goel is a professor of internal medicine and pediatrics in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Simmons Cancer Institute and associate vice chair of research in internal medicine at the school. She holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Goel serves a dual role as a practicing hematologist/oncologist with a focus on benign and malignant hematology, and as a transfusion medicine physician. She is executive medical director of SIU IM Anticoagulation Services. A well-recognized data scientist, Goel is actively engaged in research in big data and novel computational methods in hematology and transfusion medicine, with a special interest in artificial intelligence/machine learning and bleeding/clotting disorders.
Dr. Goel played an integral part during the COVID-19 pandemic, spearheading the convalescent plasma program for central and southern Illinois, earning the Springfield Business Journal’s ‘40 Under 40’ award for exemplary clinical service. She was also awarded the SIU AWIMS’s Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Women in Medicine and Science in 2022 for her mentorship and servant leadership.
Goel has received national accolades, including the AABB Fenwal Future Leader Scholarship Award and the Paul Stranjford Young Investigator Award by the American College of Laboratory Physicians and Scientists. Her international recognitions include the International Society of Blood Transfusion’s Harold Gunsen fellowship, International BEST Collaborative Scott Murphy Lectureship Award, and the Australian and New Zealand Blood Transfusion Society’s President’s Award.
Goel has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, including key first-author publications in leading medical journals. She lectures nationally and internationally on topics of her research focus.
Goel is an alumna of the All India Institute of Medical Science in New Delhi, India, the premier medical institute in India and Southeast Asia. She completed her residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, followed by a hematology/oncology fellowship at the combined program at Johns Hopkins University/National Cancer Institute at NIH. She then completed a transfusion medicine fellowship at New York Presbyterian Cornell Hospital and New York Blood Center.
Osvaldo H. Wesly, MD, is a renowned hematologist-oncologist and medical educator, the medical director of Prairie Bleeding and Clotting Center, and a past Physician of the Year awardee by the National Hemophilia Foundation. He is a former faculty member at SIU School of Medicine.
