Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,



The 22nd Congress of the European Hematology Association, one of the most important annual meetings of haematology, took place in Madrid between the 22nd and 25th of June, with more than 11,000 participants from all over the world. There were more than 250 sessions, workshops and over 1,600 posters. Clinicians and scientists presented new approaches for diagnosis and treatment, accesing recent results on clinical and translational research in haematological disorders.

A major part of the meeting was dedicated to a series of educational sessions, meet-the-expert, clinical debates, and haematology-in-focus sessions and a new official Journal of EHA - "HemaSphere" - was announced. An extended part of the program were satellite symposia by drug companies.

The highlights of the selected topics, which are presented below, are on acute and chronic myeloid malignancies, lymphoid malignancies (acute and chronic lymphotic leukaemia’s, Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma). Other topics are updates in stem cell transplantation and in benign haematology (sickle cell anaemia, thalassaemia) as well as in paediatric haematology and thrombosis, and homeostasis.

The rest of the data can be obtained through the EHA learning centre: learningcenter.ehaweb.org.

The large number of younger participants was a very encouraging indication to validate success of the organisers to prepare a stimulating scientific and educational program.

 

Best Regards,

Eliezer Rachmilewitz

 

Biography
Prof. Rachmilewitz was the Head of the Haematology departments in Hadassah and in Wolfson Hospitals for 35 years. He is an adjunct professor of Medicine in New York Cornell University Presbyterian Hospital.He is interested in the pathophysiology of thalassaemia. Original findings include non-transferrin-bound iron - generating increased oxidative stress, low hepcidin levels accounting for increased iron absorption and hypercoagulable state, particularly in asymptomatic ischaemic brain lesions. Iron overload resulting in oxidative stress in congenital and acquired haemolytic anaemias (myelodysplastic syndrome) and the risks for transformation to leukaemia is another area of his interest. He published more than 300 papers including progress reports on thalassaemia in the New England Journal of Medicine, and “How I Treat Thalassemia” in Blood and is an associate Editor of Annals of Hematology. He is one of the most prominent physicians in Israel and one of the 3 physicians of the Prime Minister. He was a host of a television program on Health issues for 15 years. He was a co-chairman of 3 international meetings on Controversies in Hematology.



Posted on 25 June, 201716 March, 2021