Professor of Medicine

Chief, CML Section

Department of Leukemia

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, Texas

Jorge Cortes, MD, is deputy chair and professor of medicine in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston Texas where he directs the CML Program. Dr. Cortes received his medical degree in 1986 from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, and has been at MD Anderson Cancer Center since 1991.  Dr. Cortes, whose clinical interest focus on new drug development and the management of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, acute and chronic leukemias, and myeloproliferative disorders has authored over 400 peer-reviewed medical publications.  He has received numerous awards including the Faculty Scholar Award from MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2003, the Annual Celgene Young Investigator Achievement Award for Clinical Research in Hematology in 2005, The Dr. John J. Kenny Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2006, the Service to Mankind Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2007, and the Otis W. and Pearl L. Walters Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research from MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2007. Dr. Cortes is chief editor of Current Hematological Malignancies Reports and Clinical Leukemia and serves in the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Clinical Cancer Research, Leukemia and Lymphoma and the American Journal of Hematology.

Francisco Cervantes

 

Francisco Cervantes is senior consultant at the Hematology Department of the Hospital Clínic, in Barcelona, Spain, and associate professor at the University of Barcelona. His main scientific interest is 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 more than 190 articles in peer-review international journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, British Journal of Haematology, Experimental Hematology, Haematologica, Cancer, Oncogene, Seminars in Oncology, and the European Journal of Haematology. In the CML field,Dr. Cervantes contributed to the elaboration of Sokal’s score, is a coauthor of the publications of the IRIS study, which established imatinib as first-line treatment for CML, has participated in the introduction of the second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors for patients resistant to imatinib, as well as in the authorship of the European LeukemiaNet recommendations for the treatment of CML. His more recent contributions in the field of the MPNs have been the elaboration of the new prognostic classification of primary myelofibrosis on behalf of the International Working Group for Myelofibrosis Research and Treatment, as well as several studies on the role of leukocyte and platelet activation in the thrombosis of MPN patients. At local level, he is the national coordinator of the CML studies within the collaborative PETHEMA Spanish group. Dr Cervantes is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the European Hematology Association, the International Working Group for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Research and Treatment, the European Leukemianet, and the Spanish Society of Hematology.

Dr. Druker is director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at Oregon Health & Science University, and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Upon graduating from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in 1981, Dr. Druker completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He then trained in oncology at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

 

Dr. Druker then returned to the lab to begin his research career studying the regulation of the growth of cancer cells and the practical application to cancer therapies. He developed 4G10, an anti-phosphotyrosine antibody that was an essential reagent to scientists at Novartis in their kinase inhibitor drug discovery program. In collaboration with Novartis, his laboratory performed pre-clinical studies that were instrumental to the development of Gleevec (imatinib), a drug that targets the molecular defect in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). After completing a series of preclinical studies, Dr. Druker spearheaded the highly successful clinical trials of imatinib for CML. Imatinib is currently FDA approved for CML, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and five other cancers.

 

His role in the development of imatinib and its application in the clinic have resulted in numerous awards for Dr. Druker, including the AACR-Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award, the Warren Alpert Prize from Harvard Medical School, the American Society of Hematology's Dameshek Prize, the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Pioneer of Survivorship Carpe Diem Award, the American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor, the Kettering Prize from General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the David A. Karnofsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Robert-Koch Award, and the 2009 Lasker-DeBakey Award for Clinical Medical Research. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2003, the American Association of Physicians in 2006, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2007.

 

Pat Garcia-Gonzalez

Executive Director, The Max Foundation

 

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.

Professor Tessa Holyoake

• 1980-85 Medicine Glasgow University
• 1985-86 House jobs Stobhill and Victoria, Glasgow
• 1986-89 General medical training Inverclyde Hospital, Greenock
• 1989-92 Haematology, Western Infirmary, Glasgow
• 1992-96 PhD, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow
• Specialist Haematology Training, Glasgow Royal Infirmary
• 1996-98 LRF Senior Lecturer, Terry Fox Labs, Vancouver
• 1999-2001 Senior Lecturer, Academic Transfusion Medicine Unit, Glasgow Royal Infirmary
• 2001-2004 Reader, Section of Experimental Haematology, Glasgow Royal
• 2004-present Professor, Section of Experimental Haematology, Glasgow Royal
• 2008 Relocation of Section of Experimental Haematology to the Paul O'Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre and West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Gartnavel Hospital

 

Research Interests

My research focuses on the cancer stem cell. Cancer stem cells sustain cancers and leukaemias, are inherently resistant to many cancer therapies, including novel targeted agents and ultimately cause relapse in patients following therapy. We are most interested in the blood cancers, in particular chronic myeloid leukaemia. We have developed laboratory methods to purify the cells of interest from leukaemia patients and from normal donors, allowing side by side comparisons of leukaemic versus normal stem cells. These comparisons include global analyses of gene expression and protein expression. Any differences can then be fully investigated and exploited through drug discovery. Recently we have begun to explore high throughput drug screening against the purified cancer stem cells hoping to find drugs that rapidly kill the cancer stem cells but leave normal stem cells intact.
On the clinical side I run clinical trials of novel agents for patients with CML Scotland wide.

 

Francisco Cervantes, MD, PhD                                    

Hematology Department

Hospital Clínic

University of Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain

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 co-author 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.

Prof. Raymond Hin-Suen LIANG

Department of Medicine

Queen Mary Hospital

Hong Kong

 

Present appointments:

 

21.1.05 - present

S.H. Ho Professor in Haematology and Oncology,

Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

 

1.7.99 – present

Chair Professor in Haematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

 

1.7.95 - present

Chief, Division of Haematology/Oncology and

Bone Marrow Transplant Unit

Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

 

1.12.92 - present

Honorary Consultant, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong

 

1.9.04 – present

Deputy Head, Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

 

1.8.08 – present

Senior Advisor to the Dean, Li Ka Shing Faculty of    Medicine, University of Hong Kong.

 

19.12.08 – present

President, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.

 

Previous appointments:

 

1.7.79 ‑ 31.12.79

House Physician, University Department of Medicine,

Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong

 

1.1.80 ‑ 30.6.80

House Surgeon, Surgical Unit C, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong

 

1.7.80 ‑ 31.10.85

Medical Officer, University Department of Medicine,

Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong.

 

1.8.83 ‑ 31.3.84

Honorary Registrar, Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, University College Hospital, London, United Kingdom

 

1.4.84 ‑ 30.9.85

Lecturer, Departments of Medical Oncology and Clinical Pharmacology, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London, United Kingdom (Joint appointment)

 

1.11.85 ‑ 30.6.91

Lecturer in Medicine (Haematology/Oncology), Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

 

1.7.91 ‑ 30.6.93

Senior Lecturer in Medicine (Haematology/Oncology)

Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

 

1.7.93 – 30.6.99

Professor (Reader)

Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

 

1.2.95 – 31.3.2002

Director, Cancer Research Centre,

Faculty of Medicine

University of Hong Kong

 

1.3.92 - 28.2.95

Associate Dean

 

1.4.97 – 12.3.07

Faculty of Medicine

University of Hong Kong

 

1.11.06 – 12.3.07

Director, Centre of Cancer Research,

University of Hong Kong

 

12.3.07 – 31.7.08

Acting Dean/Dean of Medicine

Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine

University of Hong Kong.

 

Qualifications:

 

1979

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery,

University of Hong Kong

 

1983

Member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, United Kingdom

 

1986

Fellow of the Hong Kong College of Physicians

Specialty Accreditation  :

Advanced Internal Medicine

Haematology and Haematological Oncology

Medical Oncology

 

1990

Doctor of Medicine, University of Hong Kong

Title of thesis: "Malignant lymphomas in Hong Kong Chinese"

(Sir Patrick Manson Gold Medal)

 

1992

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

 

1992

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, United Kingdom

 

1993

Foundation Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (Internal Medicine)

 

1995

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, United Kingdom

 

1995

Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Australia

 

2000

Registered specialist : Haematology, General Medical Council, United Kingdom

 

Special Appointments (International)

 

4.90 – 11.98

Member of Editorial Board, the International Journal

“Hematological Oncology”

 

11.98 - 2005

Associate Editor, Hematological Oncology

 

11.91

Hon. Treasurer, Organizing Committee, 7th Asian‑Pacific Congress of the International Society of Haematology

 

7.92

Assessor for the South Australian Research Grants,

Anti-Cancer Foundation of South Australia

 

1995 - 2000

Member of the International Affair Committee,

 

1999 - 2000

Chairman, International Affair Committee,

American Society of Clinical Oncology

 

1995 - present

Member of the Advisory Committee of the International

Bone Marrow Transplantation Registry, Milwaukee,

Wisconsin, USA.

 

1995 - 1997

Member, Advisory Board Panel, 3rd Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference,  USA.

 

1995 - 1997

Chairman, Scientific Committee of the 14th Asian Pacific Cancer Conference.

 

1997 - 1998

Advisor, Asian Clinical Trials Conference, Hong Kong, 1997 - 98.

Member, Scientific Committee, 1997 - 98.

 

1997 - 1999

Member of Editorial Board, the International Journal

“Cancer Therapeutics”.

 

1997 - present

Examiner, MRCP (UK) Examination, Royal Colleges of Physicians, United Kingdom.

 

1998

Member,  International Organising Committee, The 6^th Congress of Asian-Pacific Bone Marrow Transplantation Group, Taipei, Taiwan.

 

1998 - 1999

Member, Advisory Board Panel, 4^th Pan-Pacific Lymphoma Conference, USA.

 

1999 - 2003

Editor-in Chief,  Journal of Clinical Oncology (Chinese Edition) and member of Editorial Board, Journal of Clinical Oncology.

 

1999

Member, Scientific Committee, Pan-Arab Conference on Lymphoma Cairo, Egypt.

 

1999 – present

Member of Editorial Board, the International Journal “Clinical Lymphoma”.

 

1999

External Reviewer, National Medical Research Council, Singapore.

1. Chairman, International Symposium.

36^th Annual Meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology.

1. Member, International Advisory Board,

“Davidson’s Principles and Practice of Medicine” – an international textbook on medicine.

 

2000

Member, International Strategic Planning Task Force, American Society of Clinical Oncology.

 

2001

International Advisor, 16^th Asian Pacific Cancer Conference, Manila, Philippines.

 

2002

Member, International Advisory Committee, 26^th International Congress of Internal Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.

 

2003 - present

Member, Editorial board, “Medical Progress”, the Journal.

 

2004

Member, International Scientific Committee

2^nd Annual Meeting of Asian Hematology Association Beijing, China.

 

2004

Guest Editor, Asian Pacific Cancer Review.

 

2004

Member of the Expert Panel, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

 

2005 – present

Member of the International Haematology Advisory Board, Janssen Pharmaceutical.

 

2005

Member, International Scientific Committee.  10^th Congress of the Asian Pacific Bone Marrow Transplantation Group.  Hang Zhou, October, 2005.

 

2006

Member, Editorial Board of the International journal : “Targeted Oncology”

 

2006

Member, Executive Committee, International T-cell lymphoma Project, Italy.

 

2007

Member, clinical advisory committee for Lymphoid Neoplasms, World health Organisation classification of neoplasms of the Hematologic and Lymphoid neoplasms.

 

2007

Chairman, Universitat 21 Medical Conference, Hong Kong

 

2007

Associate Editor, Journal of Hematology and Oncology

 

2008

Co-Chairman, Chinese Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation.

Professor John M Goldman DM, FRCP,FRCPath, FMedSci

 

Senior Research Investigator

Division of Investigative Science

Imperial College London, UK

 

Professor John M. Goldman has a long standing interest in the biology and therapy of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).  He was until 2004 Chairman of the Department of Haematology at Imperial College London, Director of the Leukaemia Research Fund Centre for Adult Leukaemia and Clinical Director of the Haematology Department at the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust. Thereafter he took up a 2-year appointment as Fogarty Scholar at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda USA.  He is now active as Emeritus Professor of Haematology at Imperial College London and Medical Director of the Anthony Nolan Trust.  He is editor of Bone Marrow Transplantation, a former editor of The Haematology Journal, and an associate editor of the European Journal of Haematology. He is also an editorial board member of numerous other journals and, during the course of his career, has published over 800 papers in peer-reviewed journals. As well as being the founding president of the British Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, he is a former president of the International Society for Experimental Hematology, the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the European Hematology Association.

Professor Goldman was the first to autograft patients with CML using peripheral blood stem cells and started allogeneic stem cell transplant for CML in 1980. He pioneered the use of unrelated donors for transplanting CML patients and developed PCR technology for monitoring residual disease. He confirmed the preclinical efficacy of the original tyrosine kinase inhibitor (STI571, now imatinib) in 1997 and first used it in the clinic in 1999. Thereafter he has been involved in development of second generation TKIs, notably dasatinib and nilotinib.

Professor Timothy P. Hughes, MD, FRACP, FRCPA

Timothy P. Hughes, MD, FRACP, FRCPA, is Head of the Department of Haematology at SA Pathology, RAH site, and Consultant Haematologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He is also Clinical  Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide and holds a Practitioner Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council. His clinical interests include chronic leukaemias and myeloproliferative disorders. His current research interests focus are in molecular monitoring for leukaemias, clinical resistance to targeted therapies in leukaemia and the development of assays to predict response and resistance to targeted agents. He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand, for which he served as President from 2001 to 2003, and the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group, for which he served as a Director from 1999-2004 and as Vice-Chairman in 2003-4.  In 2006 Professor Hughes was awarded the RACP Eric Susman Prize for the most outstanding contribution to the knowledge of any branch of internal medicine by a member of the College of Physicians.

Jerald P. Radich, M.D., is a Member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington.  He is the Medical Director of the Research Trials Office at the FHCRC, the co-chair of Leukemia Biology for the Southwest Oncology Group, and is the co-chair of the NCI/Cooperartive Group Leukemia Steering Committee. He belongs to the National Cancer Care Network and EuroLeukemiaNet CML committees. Dr. Radich’s main research interest concerns the genetics of leukemia, and the use of and development of modern molecular biology techniques towards early detection of leukemia.

 

Prof. Dr. Hemant Malhotra,  MD, FRCP (London), FRCP (Edinburgh), FACP (USA), MNAMS, FICP, FUICC, FIMSA

 

Professor & Head, Department of Medical Oncology, Sriram Cancer Center,  Mahatma Gandhi Medical College Hospital, Jaipur.

 
 

Dr. Hemant Malhotra is presently Professor & Head, Department of Medical Oncology at the Sriram Cancer Center of the Mahatma Gandhi College Hospital, Jaipur. Since superannuating after more than three decades of government service where he was the PHOD, Department of Medicine and Head of the division of Medical Oncology at the Birla Cancer Center, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, he now working full time at the MGMCH. The Mahatma Gandhi Medical College Hospital is 1400 bedded, one of the leading tertiary care teaching and patient care center of North India, and the largest in the private sector.

Dr. Malhotra graduated and post-graduated at the top of his batch from the SMS Medical College and after fellowships at Tata Memorial Cancer Center, Mumbai (1989 to 1991); Cornell Medical Center, New York and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, set up the Medical Oncology division in the department of Medicine at the SMS Hospital in 1991, the first in the state of Rajasthan. He also established a Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit at the SMS and his team has successfully done the first-ever autologous bone marrow transplantation in the state of Rajasthan. Regular autologous and allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantations are now being done in the unit.

Dr. Malhotra has more than three decades of treating cancer patients in the state of Rajasthan is a well-recognized and respected teacher. Many of his students are now senior medical oncologists spread all over the country and heading their own departments.

He is an internationally and nationally recognized medical oncologist and was the India, Pakistan & Bangladesh representative to the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) from 2006 to 2008. He is also ESMO board certified in medical oncology. He is an advisor/consultant/referee/committee member for oncology to several Government of India bodies and head the ICMR committee for formulation of guidelines for multiple myeloma. He serves on the Specialty Expert Committee on Hematology & Oncology of the Drug Controller General of India. He has served on the National Oncology SAE Committee of the Drug Controller General of India, Government of India. He has been an invited consultant to the WHO on guideline development for bio-similar oncology molecules.

Dr. Malhotra has to his credit more than 200 international and national publications and presentations and is an office bearer and member of many international and national societies and organizations. He is the lead author of a chapter on Chronic Leukemia in the Oxford Text book of Oncology. He is the Immediate Past President of the Indian Society of Medical & Pediatric Oncology (ISMPO). He is one of the founder members & Head of
the Hematological Cancers Committee of the Indian Cooperative Oncology Network (ICON). 

Dr. Malhotra is keenly interested in clinical research and has completed more than 40 investigator initiated and industry sponsored pivotal clinical trial as Principal Investigator. Dr. Malhotra has investigator-initiated trials and projects in several diseases, especially Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. He is also on the Board of Advisors of the International CML Foundation and is the national representative to the iCMLf from India. Dr. Malhotra has been the Joint Secretary of the Ethic Committee of the SMS Medical College since inception till 2010 and has been instrumental in drafting the SOPs of the EC. He has also been a Member of the Ethics Committee at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital in Jaipur.

Amongst his recent honors, Dr. Malhotra was awarded the International Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Prize for outstanding work in CML in emerging regions in Miami, USA in 2018. He was also invited to Chair and speak at the 62nd Annual Conference of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) organized at Orlando, USA in the first week of December 2019, the only physicians from the whole country to be give this honor.

Professor of Internal Medicine
Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences
University of Turin
Turin, Italy

 

Dr Giuseppe Saglio is Professor of Internal Medicine and Haematology at the University of Turin. He is Director of the Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences at the University of Turin and responsible for the Division of Internal Medicine and Haematology at San Luigi University Hospital. He graduated from the University of Turin in 1975. Since then he has studied Internal Medicine at the University of Turin (1975-1980), Haematology at the University of Milan (1980-1983) and Molecular Biology at the University of Leiden (1976), Inserm-Creteil, Paris (1979) and the University of California (1983).

Dr Saglio is co-ordinator of the PhD programme in Molecular Medicine and Experimental Therapy at the University of Turin, past-president of the Italian Society of Experimental Haematology (SIES) and general secretary of the IACRLRD (International Association for Comparative Research on Leukemia and Related Diseases). He has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles in the fields of molecular pathogenesis of haematological malignancies (1986-present), molecular medicine applied to clinical medicine (1978-present) and the molecular basis of thalassemia and related haemoglobinopathies (1978-1990).

 

Jan Geissler

Chair, LeukaNET / Leukämie-Online, Germany

Co-Founder, CML Advocates Network

 

In July 2001, Jan received his diagnosis of a rare cancer, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), at a routine check-up. He then joined a phase I/II clinical trial. As hardly any information on upcoming treatments was available in the German language, he started to simplify and translate medical publications into German language. In 2002, he started to publish them by founding the online patient community Leukämie-Online (http://www.leukaemie-online.de), which is one of the most frequented patient websites on leukemia in the German speaking Internet today. Leukämie-Online became a charitable organisation in Germany in 2006, with Jan being the Chair.

In 2007, Jan has co-founded the CML Advocates Network (http://www.cmladvocates.net) together with other CML patient groups from Israel, the UK and Czech Republic. The goal of the web-based platform is to get organisations connected that are supporting patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Today, members include 57 CML groups from all continents, sharing best practice in cancer patient advocacy and campaigning for better treatment and care of CML patients world wide.

Jan is also a co-founder of the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), a board member of the European Forum for Good Clinical Practice (EFGCP), and acts on a number of advisory boards.

In the International CML Foundation (iCMLf), Jan acts as Communications Coordinator and runs the foundation's Pediatric CML program.

Contact

Jan Geissler <jan@cml-foundation.org>

 

Susan Branford, PhD, FFSc (RCPA)

Head, Leukaemia Unit
Genetics and Molecular Pathology
SA Pathology, Centre for Cancer Biology
An Alliance between SA Patholgy and The University of South Australia

Professor Susan Branford is Head of the Leukaemia lab in the Department of Genetics and Molecular Pathology at SA Pathology.

Sue has expertise in molecular monitoring of the BCR-ABL1 gene for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. As such she is a major contributor to International collaborative initiatives to establish guidelines and recommendations for producing reliable molecular data.

Dr Branford's research is focused on understanding the factors that predict response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy and mechanisms of drug resistance.

Universitätsklinikum Jena

Jena, Germany

 

Andreas Hochhaus is a Professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology and interim Head of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the University Medical Center Jena in Germany. He was awarded the Endowed Professorship for Leukemia Research from the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation in 2007.

He has been interested in treatment optimization of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and has been involved in the management of the randomized CML Studies I-IV of the German CML Study Group for more than 19 years. His special interests are the molecular monitoring of minimal residual disease and mechanisms of resistance in CML, and targeted therapy in a variety of neoplastic disorders.

Dr. Hochhaus is investigator for the nilotinib, dasatinib and bosutinib phase II and phase III studies, has been participating in imatinib phase II and III studies and is conducting trials of imatinib combined with pegylated interferon alpha, lonafarnib and everolimus.

He is a member of the European Hematology Association, the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the International Society of Hematology, the International Association for Comparative Research on Leukemia and Related Diseases, and the German Society for Hematology and Oncology. He has published over 240 peer-reviewed papers and is regularly invited to speak at national and international symposia.