Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

It is my pleasure to introduce this peer-reviewed ASH 2019 Medicom Conference Report. We have selected a number of interesting abstracts from this years’ ASH meeting that will probably change your practice now or in the near future. The abstracts are summarised in a way that the information is easy to digest in a rather short time.

This year, we saw a further increase in papers on immunotherapy including bispecific antibody and CAR T-cell treatment applied in a variety of haematological malignancies. Also, gene therapy is now rapidly moving from bench to bedside. Especially interesting developments in sickle cell and other haemoglobinopathies are emerging. AML treatment, which has seen no new developments for a long time, is now rapidly changing with the development of new effective targeted treatments and by successfully applying maintenance treatment with epigenetic agents. You will find snapshots of all these new developments in this report. I am sure you will enjoy.

Gert Ossenkoppele

Biography
Professor Gert Ossenkoppele was appointed in 2003 as professor of Hematology at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. Gert Ossenkoppele has authored over 390 publications in peer-reviewed journals and is an invited speaker at many international scientific meetings. His research interests are mainly translational and include the (stem cell) biology of AML, leukemic stem cell target discovery, immunotherapy, and measurable residual disease (MRD) detection using flow cytometry to inform treatment of AML. He is the PI of various clinical trials in myeloid malignancies. He chairs the AML working party of HOVON (Dutch-Belgian Hematology Trial Group) and is appointed as vice-chair of the HOVON Executive Board. He is a lead participant of the AML Work package of the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) as well as a board member of the ELN foundation. He is recently appointed as chair of the EHA Educational Committee. He chairs the AML Scientific working group of EHA, and he is chair of the Global and EU steering committee of the AMLGlobalPortal an educational portal for hematologists (www.amlglobalportal.com).

Conflict of Interest Statement: Prof. Ossenkoppele is consultant for Novartis and BMS.



Posted on 5 March 202016 March 2021