48th ASH™ Annual Meeting and Exposition
December 9-12, 2006

Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida

Special Lectures

Saturday

E. Donnall Thomas Lecture

Saturday, December 9, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Title: Colony Stimulating Factor-1 in Development and Disease

Speaker: E. Richard Stanley, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Colony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1), or M-CSF, controls macrophage and osteoclast production and function. These cells, via trophic and scavenger actions, play critical roles in development. CSF-1 also plays autocrine and paracrine roles in neoplasia and is an important regulatory cytokine in many chronic inflammatory diseases. Studies of CSF-1 biology and signal transduction offer new approaches to our understanding of these diseases, as well as their treatment.

Special Symposium

Saturday, December 9, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Title: Bleeding Disorders in Women’s Health

Chair: Vincent J. Picozzi, MD, MMM, Virginia Mason Clinic, Seattle, WA

Speakers:

Andra H. James, MD, MPH, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Bleeding Disorders in Women’s Health: The Unrecognized Truth from an OB-GYN Perspective

Margaret V. Ragni, MD, MPH, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA  
Bleeding Disorders in Women’s Health: The Role of the Consultative Hematologist

Vincent J. Picozzi, MD, MMM, Virginia Mason Clinic, Seattle, WA
Bleeding Disorders in Women’s Health: Another Public Health Crisis in Hematology?

Women with metrorrhagia represent a major public health problem. Among premenopausal women, the number of individuals with unrecognized bleeding disorders may reach the millions.

Dr. Andra James will address the significance and magnitude of this problem as it presents to physicians in her discipline. In particular, she will address typical presentations of this problem to obstetricians and gynecologists, issues with appropriate management of such patients, and barriers to hematologic referral.

Among the 20 percent of such patients that have the most common congenital bleeding disorder, von Willebrand Disease, diagnosis is difficult due to both variable patient recognition of symptoms as abnormal and testing that is frequently non-definitive, variable, and affected by extragenic factors. Treatment limitations often lead to early hysterectomy. Given the above, Dr. Margaret Ragni will review how the hematologist can empower patients, direct diagnosis, and optimize management, especially with respect to unnecessary surgical procedures, while fostering clinical research in this area at the same time.

Dr. Vincent Picozzi will remind the audience of the key clinical and scientific lessons learned from the above presentations as well as pose key questions necessary for patients, physicians, and society as a whole to address in order to advance the public health of premenopausal women with bleeding disorders. A lively, interactive discussion between the speakers and the audience will conclude the program.  

Sunday

ASH/ASCO Joint Symposium

Sunday, December 10, 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Title: Biology and Clinical Applications of Angiogenesis Inhibition in Malignant Diseases

Co-Chairs:

Kanti R. Rai, MD, President, American Society of Hematology
Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, NY

Gabriel Hortobagyi, MD, FACP, President, American Society of Clinical Oncology
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX  

Speakers:

Lee M. Ellis, MD, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Potential Mechanisms of Action of Anti-VEGF Therapy

Shahin Rafii, MD, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY
Angiogenesis of Hematologic Malignancies and Therapeutic Implications

Brian Rini, MD, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH
Anti-Angiogenic Therapy for Renal Cell Carcinoma and Other Solid Malignancies

Malignant tumors are metabolically active and require for their survival a continued supply of nutrients and oxygen. For that reason, once a tumor deposit exceeds about 1 cubic mm in size, it starts sending out paracrine signals to the surrounding stroma to attract new vessel formation (neoangiogenesis). The successful formation of a network of tumor vessels contributes substantially to the tumor's success and represents an adverse prognostic factor in most tumor types. This complex process has been targeted with therapeutic intent. Today, there are multiple candidate drugs that target different steps of angiogenesis. Some have completed their clinical evaluation and received FDA approval as components of standard therapy for lung and colon cancers; others are advancing through clinical trials in breast and kidney cancers, with demonstrated efficacy. Yet others are under evaluation in a wide variety of tumors, mostly in combination with other agents. The initial results indicate that targeting the process of angiogenesis will clearly have an important role in managing established cancers. The development of other indications in earlier stages of tumor development is under consideration. This session will describe the biological principles behind neoangiogenesis and the various efforts at targeting different steps of this process with therapeutic intent.

ASH-EHA Policy Forum

Sunday, December 10, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Title: Challenges in Governmental Funding for Research

Co-Chairs:

Kanti R. Rai, MD, President, American Society of Hematology
Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, NY

Eva Hellström-Lindberg, MD, PhD, President, European Hematology Association
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

Speakers:

Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, Director, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Colin Blakemore, FMedSci, FRS, Chief Executive, Medical Research Council, London, United Kingdom

This forum represents a joint effort by ASH and EHA to keep researchers informed of policy decisions, both here and abroad, that can significantly affect their work.

Two prominent health officials share their perspectives on governmental support for biomedical research, translational research and its impact on hematology, and the role of hematology in cross-disciplinary research. The 75-minute session will include time for official remarks as well as audience comments and questions, allowing researchers troubled by lagging federal funding to voice their concerns to two of the individuals most qualified to respond.

Dr. Zerhouni has served as NIH Director since 2002, supervising the organization's 27 Institutes and Centers. Meanwhile, Dr. Blakemore has headed the Medical Research Council as Chief Executive since 2003, overseeing three institutes and 29 units.

Attendees should anticipate a stimulating discussion of issues affecting clinicians, researchers, and anyone interested in the advancement of medical science. For additional information about the Symposium, contact the ASH Government Relations and Practice Department at 202-776-0544 or grassroots@hematology.org.

Announcement of Awards

Sunday, December 10, 1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

Mentor Award
In recognition of the value the Society places on mentorship, the new ASH Mentor Award was created to reward outstanding mentors in the hematology community. Individuals from any branch of hematology who have had a sustained career commitment to mentoring, a significant positive impact on their mentees’ careers, and through their mentees have advanced research and patient care in the field of hematology are eligible for the award.

Outstanding Service Award
The Society presents this award each year to an individual in the public or private sector who has displayed effective “behind-the-scenes” leadership in areas relevant to the mission of the Society.

Public Service Award
ASH presents the Public Service Award each year to an elected public official who has demonstrated effective leadership on issues of importance to hematology.

Plenary Scientific Session

Sunday, December 10, 1:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

During this prestigious session that is traditionally a highlight of the annual meeting, attendees will hear the presentations of the most groundbreaking abstracts selected by the Program Committee from among the thousands submitted from around the world. The speakers will be announced on the ASH Web site when the abstracts are posted online in early November.

Monday

Ham-Wasserman Lecture

Monday, December 11, 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Title: The Ubiquitin Proteolytic System – From Basic Mechanisms and on to Drug Targeting and the Patient Bed

Speaker: Aaron Ciechanover, MD, DSc, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

Between the 1960s and 1980s, most biologists focused on the translation of the genome to the proteome. Protein degradation was a neglected area, considered to be a non-specific, dead-end process. While it was known that proteins turn over, the large extent and high specificity of the process – whereby distinct proteins have half-lives that range from a few minutes to several days – was not appreciated. The exciting discovery of the lysosome by Christian de Duve did not significantly change this view, as it was believed that this organelle is involved mostly in the degradation of extracellular proteins, and its proteases cannot be substrate-specific. The discovery of the complex cascade of the ubiquitin pathway revolutionized the field. It is clear now that degradation of cellular proteins is a highly complex, temporally controlled, and tightly regulated process that plays major roles in a variety of basic processes. With the multitude of substrates targeted and the myriad processes involved, it is not surprising that aberrations in the pathway are implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases, certain malignancies and neurodegeneration among them. Despite intensive research, the unknown still exceeds what we currently know about intracellular protein degradation, and major key questions remain unsolved. Among these are the modes of specific and timed recognition of many substrates and the mechanisms that underlie aberrations in the system that result pathogenesis of diseases.

Tuesday

Presidential Symposium

Tuesday, December 12, 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Announcement of Honorific Awards

William Dameshek Prize
The William Dameshek Prize was named for the late Dr. William Dameshek, a past president of the Society and the original editor of Blood, to recognize a recent outstanding contribution to the field of hematology.

Recipient: Riccardo Dalla-Favera, MD, Institute for Cancer Genetics and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, New York, NY

Henry M. Stratton Medal
The Stratton Medal was named for the late Henry M. Stratton, a co-founder of the publishing house of Grune & Stratton, to honor an individual whose contributions to hematology are well recognized and have taken place over a period of several years.

Recipient: Jack Hirsh, MD, Henderson Research Center, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Symposium

Title: Hematologic Implications of Recent Advances in MiRs (micro-RNAs)

Chair: Kanti R. Rai, MD, President, American Society of Hematology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, NY

Speakers:

Carlo Croce, MD, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, OH   
The Role of microRNA Genes in Leukemogenesis

James Dahlberg, PhD, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI
Utility of microRNA Quantification

Chang-Zheng Chen, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA  
Regulating Differentiation and Signaling by microRNAs

The discovery of the existence of hundreds of tiny RNAs, known as microRNAs (miRs), which regulate gene expression in animal and plant cells has led to exciting new investigations into the role of miRs in hematology. This research provides new insights into how miRs modulate hematopoietic lineage differentiation and development of some of the hematologic malignancies.

Three leading experts in the field of miRs will constitute the panel at this year’s Presidential Symposium. Dr. Carlo Croce will discuss the role of miR genes in the pathogenesis of hematopoietic malignancies. Dr. James Dahlberg will cover the mechanism of action of miRs and the role of miR 155 in lymphoma. Dr. Chang-Zheng Chen will explain how miRs modulate hematopoietic lineage differentiation.

Business Meeting