Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, Executive Director of The Max Foundation, has been dedicated to improving the lives of blood cancer survivors around the world for over twelve years. A native of Argentina, Pat has a Master degree from the University of Washington and technical degree in nursing.
Pat is co-founder of The Max Foundation, an international NGO based in Edmonds, Washington, started in 1997 to connect families facing leukemia with resources for treatment access.
Under Pat's direction since 2005, The Max Foundation provides services to over 15,000 CML patients in more than 90 countries annually and has successfully started and supported local patient organizations in 12 countries.
In 2008, Pat was awarded the distinguished honor of the Golden Tennis Shoe Award from United States Senator, Patty Murray for her service and dedication to her community. She is a member of the Global Health Council and of the CML Advocates Network.
Nick Cross MA PhD FRCPath studies at the University of Cambridge, initially reading Natural
Sciences and subsequently undertaking a PhD in the Department of Genetics. He started his postdoctoral career at the Hammersmith Hospital, London in 1987, where he developed an interest in chronic myeloid leukaemia under the mentorship of Prof John Goldman. In 2001 he relocated to Salisbury to take up Directorship of the Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory and Chair of Human Genetics at the University of Southampton. His research, which has resulted in more than 290 peer reviewed publications, focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies as well as the development, validation and standardisation of genetic tests.
Andrzej Hellmann is Professor of Medicine and head of the Department of Hematology of Medical University of Gdańsk since 1991. He received his medical degree in 1971 and PhD in 1976 from Medical University of Gdańsk.
Dr Hellmann completed a postdoctoral fellowship in leukemia biology at the Hammersmith Hospital in London in 1978 – 80. He is a specialist in internal medicine, hematology and clinical transplantology. From 1982 to 1990 he was associate professor at Department of Medicine. In 1991 he organized and was appointed head of the new established Department of Hematology with BMT Unit at University of Gdańsk. Prof. Hellmann is author and co- author of more than 300 peer–reviewed articles in medical journals including NEJM and Blood. During a period 2005 – 2008 Prof. Hellmann was acting as a vice – rector of Medical University of Gdańsk. From 2003 till 2011Prof. Hellmann was the president of the Polish Society of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine. He is also the chairman of CML Study Group within the Polish Adult Leukemia Group. He is also the member of European Leukemia Network, American Society of Hematology, European Hematology Association, European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and International Society of Hematology. His special practical and research interest is still focused on myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Dr Francisco Cervantes is senior consultant at the Hematology Department of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and professor at the University of Barcelona. His scientific interest has been focused on the study of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the Ph-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), mainly their natural history, prognosis, biology, and treatment. As a result of the activity in this field, he has published over 300 articles in peer-review journals. He was coauthor of the publications of the IRIS study that allowed the approval of imatinib as frontline treatment of CML, participated in the introduction of the second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and is a member of the expert panels of the European LeukemiaNet for CML and MPN treatment. In the MPN field, he was the leading author of the prognostic classification of primary myelofibrosis or IPSS. Dr Cervantes is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the European Hematology Association, the International Working Group for MPN Research and Treatment, the European LeukemiaNet, and the PETHEMA Spanish Collaborative Group.
Professor Mahon gratuated in clinical hematology from the faculty of medicine, University of Bordeaux and received a PhD for his work on "Selection of Normal Cells in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia". Professor Mahon has completed a Research Fellowship at the Imperial College in London (UK) and is a felllow of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the European Hematology Association (EHA), the French Society of Hematology, and the European Investigators on CML Group (El-CML). He currently serves as the President of the French Group of CML (Fl-LMC) and today has authored or co-authored for than 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Jeff Lipton is Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Staff Physician on the Leukemia and Allogeneic Blood and Marrow Transplant Services at the Princess Margaret Hospital. He received and honors BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Calgary and went on to a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario. An MRC post-doctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute in Israel with Leo Sachs led to his developing interests in leukemia. After a short time as a junior staff at the University of Connecticut, he had a mid-life crisis and went back to Calgary to go to medical school, followed by a residency in Internal Medicine. He then completed sub-specialty training in Medical Oncology at the University of Toronto and stayed on at the PMH as a staff physician. His clinical practice is in chronic leukemias and bone marrow failure syndromes as well as allogeneic stem cell transplant. Research interests in particular are in CML and its therapy, outcomes and supportive care in BMT, and in the therapy of bone marrow failure syndromes. Jeff serves on the Unrelated Donor Transplant Advisory Board of OneMatch, Past President of the Canadian Bone Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG), was an advisor to the Center for Research on Bone Marrow Transplantation (CIBMTR), has served on the Clinical Trials Group of the CBMTG, was Director of the Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Program at PMH, is Head of the CML Study Group at PMH and is on several international advisory boards relating to the therapy of CML including the International CML Foundations and the ELN and Canadian CML Guidelines Committee. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer reviewed papers and 350 abstracts.