Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

It is my great pleasure to introduce this peer-reviewed EBMT 2023 Medicom Conference Report. It was organised as a hybrid meeting, a format that has been shown most useful for medical conferences. The EBMT Annual Meeting, now held in Paris, is a great event that transplanters look forward to. It offers the opportunity to get informed on all aspects of stem cell transplantation. Mostly clinical but also basic and translational topics were covered in a wonderful programme. From this years’ EBMT, we selected a number of interesting abstracts that will most likely change your daily 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.

The emerging role of transplantation in a variety of haematological malignancies got a lot of attention. But also transplantation possibilities in benign haematological disorders like haemoglobinopathies were discussed. Maintenance treatment after transplantation is an emerging new field that receives ongoing interest and research. The further deciphering of the molecular basis of malignant diseases offers possibilities to further stratify patients for transplantation. Much attention was also paid to new strategies to prevent and treat graft-vs-host disease (GvHD).

Finally, CAR T was a major topic during this meeting showing rapid developments and progress in clinical utility in many haematological diseases. Unravelling the mechanisms of GvHD offered the possibility to investigate many new drugs in this area. Measurable residual disease becomes an important surrogate endpoint for outcomes in many haematological malignancies and helps to inform treatment.

You will find snapshots of all these new developments in this report. I can imagine that these are helpful in your daily practice and am certain that you will enjoy them.

Gert Ossenkoppele

 

Biography

Gert Ossenkoppele was appointed in 2003 as professor of Hematology at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. He obtained his doctorate of medicine at that same University in 1977. He is board certified in Hematology and Internal medicine (1984). The title of his PhD thesis (1990) was: ”Differentiation induction in AML”. Gert Ossenkoppele has authored over 450 publications in peer-reviewed journals and is invited speaker at many national and international scientific meetings. His research interests is 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 PI of national and international clinical trials in myeloid malignancies. He is reviewer on a regular basis for many high impact hematological journals (Blood, Leukemia, Haematologica, JAMA Oncology, Lancet Oncology NEJM). He chairs the AML working party of HOVON (Dutch-Belgian Hematology Trial Group) and recently stepped down 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 co-leads the AML WP of HARMONY. He rotated of as board member of the European Hematology Association and was very recently appointed as vice-chair of the EHA Educational Committee. He just rotated off as chair of the AML Scientific working group of EHA and is now a member of this group. He is member of the Global and EU steering committee of the AMLGlobalPortal an educational portal for hematologists (www.amlglobalportal.com). He chairs the institutional DSMB of his University. He has now because of retirement an honorary position as hematologist at the Amsterdam University Medical Center.

Conflicts of Interest

Prof. Gert Ossenkoppele received research support from Novartis, J&J and BMS-Celgene. He functions as a consultant for J&J, Daiichi-Sanyko, BMS-Celgene, Servier, and Roche. Lastly, he is a member of the advisory boards of Novartis, Pfizer, Abbvie, J&J, Daiichi-Sanyko, BMS-Celgene, AGIOS, Amgen, Astellas, Roche, Jazz pharmaceuticals, and Merus.



Posted on 15 June, 2023