2017 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition

Our Leukemia Program researchers and physicians made a huge splash at this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, an educational gathering of over 25,000 clinicians and scientists from around the world who are working to conquer blood disease.

Our team was involved in over 40 study abstracts presented at the meeting, helping to advance the overall understanding of leukemia, as well as improve clinical outcomes and quality of life for those affected by the disease. Here are some highlights:

Drs. Pinkal Desai, Duane Hassane and research colleagues discovered a relationship between specific gene mutations and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) risk, enabling prediction of disease up to a decade prior to its development. Their research was selected for inclusion in the upcoming Highlights of ASH Meeting in January 2018.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Patients Demonstrate Increased Prevalence of AML-Defining Mutations in Peripheral Blood Years Prior to the Development of Overt Leukemia: A Case-Control Study

Dr. Sangmin Lee presented research on a drug showing promise in people with refractory myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

Phase II Clinical Study of the Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Tosedostat in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) after Failure of Hypomethylating Agent-Based Therapy

Two Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian hematology/oncology fellows made contributions to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) research. Dr. Ghaith Abu-Zeinah compared the efficacy and side effects of plasma and cryoprecipitate given to AML patients to treat and prevent bleeding, and Dr. Jorge Monge explored ethnic disparities in medicine by studying the difference in mutation rates between Hispanic and Non-Hispanic AML patients.

A Single Institutional Experience Comparing Cryoprecipitate to Plasma in Patients with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulopathy (DIC) from Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

Mutational Frequency in Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): Updated Analysis of 227 Patients

Franco Izzo, PhD, had the highest-scoring abstract in the post doctoral fellow category and was chosen for the ASH Outstanding Abstract Achievement Award.

Single-Cell Methylome and Transcriptome High-Resolution Maps Define the Effects of Epigenetic Modifiers on the Landscape of Hematopoietic Differentiation

Drs. Gail Roboz and Monica Guzman were also tapped as special session speakers for their expertise in care and research. Dr. Roboz discussed adapting treatment to individual AML patients as part of the Friday Satellite Symposia, and Dr. Guzman led a trainee program teaching others how to set up a laboratory research program.

We are so proud of our Leukemia Program’s leadership at ASH and of the team’s relentless work to make life better for leukemia patients and their families.