American Society of Hematology (ASH) 49th Annual Meeting and Exposition.
As 2007 President of American Society of Hematology (ASH), Dr. Schafer Hosts More than 20,000 Hematologists at Annual Meeting
Dr. Andrew I. Schafer, 2007 President of ASH, Chairman of the Department of Medicine and E. Hugh Luckey Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), and Physician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, led the recent American Society of Hematology (ASH) 49th Annual Meeting and Exposition. More than 20,000 hematologists from around the globe attended the annual meeting held in early December at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
The four-day conference featured many exciting oral and poster presentations. These were chosen by peer-reviewers from abstracts submitted prior to the meeting highlighting the latest, most promising developments in scientific research. The Plenary Scientific Session and named lectures on specialized areas provided hematologists with a forum to discuss critical issues in their field. The work of several WCMC faculty members was highlighted:
- Michael W. Schuster, MD � Agent for Chemotherapy Side Effects?
- Eric J. Feldman, MD � New and More Effective Delivery System for Cancer Drugs
- John P. Leonard, M.D. � Combination Drug Therapy Well Tolerated for Non-Hodgkin�s Lymphoma
- Tomer Mark, M.D. and Ruben Niesvizky, M.D. � Drug Aids in Stem Cell Collection for Multiple Myeloma
- Richard T. Silver, M.D. � Gene Identified in Severity of Blood Disorder
During the annual meeting, Dr. Schafer moderated a press conference on blood clotting and bleeding disorders, and Co-chaired:
- The ASH/ASCO Joint Symposium on Infection, Inflammation, and Cancer
- The ASH/EHA Policy Forum on Preparing for Disaster
He also presented on the topic of Cancer Stem Cells for his Presidential Symposium, chaired a special symposium titled Venous Thromboembolism: A Common Blood Clotting Disorder from Patient, Public Health, and Scientific Perspectives, which included Melanie Bloom, the late David Bloom's wife - journalist who died in Iraq from Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) as a panelist. Following the conference, an hour long, live webcast interview is scheduled on January 7th at 1:00pm on the Patient Power Show to further discuss the causes and treatment for DVT. Listeners can call in with their questions at 877-711-5611 or 877-711-5211 during the broadcast or email in advance to: [email protected]. The webcast can be found on http://www.patientpower.info/
In addition to initiatives which include support of publications, symposia and professional development programs within the United States, ASH global outreach efforts include:
- International Outreach Initiative - distributing educational materials to institutions and cooperative groups in developing countries;
- Visiting Trainee Program - providing learning opportunities and training at host institutions for hematologists from emerging nations;
- Health Volunteers Overseas partnership - educating and training health-care providers in developing countries on the treatment of patients with blood disorders;
- International Consortium on Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (IC-APL) - facilitating interactions between clinicians and researchers in developing countries, with the long-term goals of improving clinical care and creating the infrastructure for ongoing clinical trials and translational research
An ASH member for over 25 years, Dr. Schafer is now concluding a one-year term as President. He has been active within the Society as a member of the Executive Committee, the Committee on Educational Affairs, the Public Information and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Committee on Investment and Audit, and the Committee on Communications. He served as Chairman of ASH's Finance Strategic Planning Committee in 2000 and as Education Program Chair for the ASH annual meeting in 1991. He is also is the founding Editor-in-Chief of ASH's award-winning and widely read, bimonthly publication, The Hematologist.