Congratulations to Dr. Josef Prchal on his selection by the American Society of Hematology for the prestigious 2017 Henry M. Stratton Medal. This award honors elite researchers in hematology research and Dr. Prchal has distinguished himself with his research into a range of disorders of erythrocytes including primary and secondary polycythemias. Dr. Prchal’s many innovations in the field include the description of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) mutation in recessive Chuvash familial polycythemia and elaboration on the pathobiology of erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) mutations in autosomal dominant familial polycythemia. His genetic investigations of acquired polycythemia vera led to the association of chromosome 9p abnormalities – where the JAK2 gene is located – with the disease. More recently, Dr. Prchal and his collaborators showed that Tibetans are protected from high altitude polycythemia as a result of a high altitude genetic adaptation due to variants of the and genes.