Marquee Sessions and Lectures

Announcement of Awards: J. Evan Sadler Award for Mentorship and Bernard Forget Award for Mentorship

These two awards are named after the late J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, and the late Bernard Forget, MD, who were two long-standing members and volunteer leaders of the Society. The awards recognize the value and influence of ASH members who have made a positive difference in the hematology community through mentoring. Each year, these awards?honor two outstanding mentors drawn from any of the different branches of hematology including adult or pediatric hematologists; academic or community practitioners; basic, clinical, or translational researchers; hematopathologists; transfusion medicine specialists; educators; and individuals working in industry or government. 

J. EVAN SADLER AWARD FOR MENTORSHIP

Dr. Roy Silverstein, 2019 ASH President and?a classical hematologist focused on platelet biology and vascular disease, is being recognized for?the profound impact?his?mentorship?has had in?preparing?emerging hematologists for success.?Throughout his career, he has guided trainees at various career stages — including undergraduates, PhD candidates, and fellows — with mentorship?marked by?generosity, accessibility, and teaching by example. Dr. Silverstein believes that?every opportunity to connect with mentees matters, even if it is just 15 minutes shared over a cup of coffee between meetings. Because of his support, his mentees have gone on to secure competitive awards and appointments, provide exceptional care to their patients, produce groundbreaking research, and contribute to the advancement of the field through leadership roles in academia, community practices, and industry.

BERNARD FORGET AWARD FOR MENTORSHIP

Dr. Laura De Castro is being honored for her commitment to lifelong, hands-on mentorship for the next generation of classical hematologists, especially those passionate about improving care for individuals living with sickle cell disease. Her interest in mentorship began when she was a high school student and tutored members of her community in the Dominican Republic. Guided by the support of her own mentors and role models — including her parents, who both worked in medicine, and Bernard Forget, MD — Dr. De Castro developed a mentorship philosophy grounded in advocacy, professional ethics, and work-life balance. Her mentees have gone on to establish fulfilling careers, make meaningful contributions to the field of hematology, and improve care and health outcomes for patients worldwide.

Chair:

Robert Negrin, MD
President, American Society of Hematology, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Speakers:

Roy Silverstein Jr, MD

Laura DeCastro, MD, MSc

ASH-EHA Joint Symposium: Novel Approaches to Cell Engineering in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

A deeper understanding of the biology of immune mechanisms has resulted in a number of approaches to engineer the hematopoietic graft to improve outcomes for patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. In this session we will review different strategies employed throughout the world examining biological mechanisms, strategies, and clinical outcomes. These approaches offer the possibility of reduced complications such as non-relapse mortality and graft vs host disease with less toxicity. Additional approaches to reduce relapse and improve immune reconstitution are under development and will be discussed.

Co-Chairs:

Robert Negrin, MD
President, American Society of Hematology, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Konstanze Döhner, MD
President, European Hematology Association, Ulm University
Ulm, Germany

Speakers:

Everett Meyer, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Palo Alto, CA
Immune Regulatory Mechanisms to Improve Outcomes following HSCT

Antonio Pierini, MD, PhD
University of Perugia
Perugia, Italy
Strategies to Improve Outcomes following Haploidentical Transplantation

Best of ASH

Co-Chairs:

Ami Bhatt, MD, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Palo Alto, CA

Saar Gill, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize

This lectureship and prize — named after the late Nobel Prize Laureate and past president of ASH E. Donnall Thomas, MD — recognizes pioneering research achievements in hematology that have represented a paradigm shift or significant discovery in the field.

Since the cloning of the MLL/KMT2A gene in the early 1990s and subsequent demonstration that the KMT2A complex regulates gene expression via chromatin-based mechanisms, much work has defined the specific gene expression program driven by KMT2A-fusion proteins and the hematopoietic cells that can be transformed. This, combined with detailed biochemical characterization, set the stage for the development of novel therapeutic hypotheses, including targeting chromatin-associated complexes. These concepts have progressed to the discovery and development of small molecules that directly target the KMT2A complex via disruption of the KMT2A-menin interaction, ultimately leading to approval of menin inhibitors for KMT2A-rearranged and NPM1c-mutant leukemias. Furthermore, these therapeutic concepts are being assessed in other cancers.   

Menin inhibitors may benefit up to 50% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia, but resistance is a significant concern. Combination approaches with standard-of-care therapies may reduce the development of resistance. However, a more rational approach to targeting multiple components of chromatin regulatory complexes may also significantly improve therapeutic options.

The lecture will focus on our understanding of chromatin and transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that control leukemia development driven by specific oncoproteins in the context of different cells of origin. Current and future novel therapeutic approaches, including menin inhibition, will be discussed, with a focus on leveraging recent biological insight for the development of even more efficacious and less toxic therapies for patients with leukemia and other cancers.

Dr. Scott Armstrong, a physician-scientist, is being celebrated for transformative contributions to the understanding and treatment of leukemias. His seminal research demonstrated that MLL(KMT2A)-rearranged leukemias exhibit a unique gene expression signature and defined the cells of origin and epigenetic mechanisms that drive development of multiple leukemia subtypes. This work enabled identification of new therapeutic approaches for KMT2A-rearranged, NUP98-rearranged, and NPM1-mutant leukemias, including menin inhibitors (a targeted cancer therapy that turns off genetic signals driving cancer growth). His extensive research directly led to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of menin inhibitors for KMT2A-rearranged?and NPM1-mutant leukemias, representing?a novel cancer therapy class and expanding treatment options for countless patients.

Chair:

Robert Negrin, MD
President, American Society of Hematology, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Speaker:

Scott Armstrong, MD, PhD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA
Leveraging the Biology of the MLL (KMT2A) Complex to Discover New Therapies for Leukemia

Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize

The Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize — named for the late Ernest Beutler, MD, a past president of ASH and physician-scientist for more than 50 years — is a two-part lectureship that recognizes major translational advances related to a single topic. This award honors two individuals, one recognized for enabling advances in basic science, and the other recognized for using clinical science or translational research to improve patient care.

This lecture and prize recognizes the outstanding efforts of Drs. Cory and Konopleva in advancing the understanding and treatment of leukemias and lymphomas. 

Chair:

Robert Negrin, MD
President, American Society of Hematology, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Speakers:

Suzanne Cory, PhD
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Harnessing the Apoptotic Machinery for Highly Effective Antileukemic Therapeutics

Marina Konopleva Jr, MD, PhD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, NY
Harnessing the Apoptotic Machinery for Highly Effective Antileukemic Therapeutics

Ham-Wasserman Lecture

CAR T cell therapy has become a transformational treatment for patients with B cell malignancies and multiple myeloma. However, CAR T cell-based therapies for T cell malignancies has been more challenging. CD7-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy represents a novel immunotherapeutic approach for relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (T-ALL/LBL) which are aggressive malignancies with poor outcomes despite conventional salvage treatments. CD7, a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed in over 95% of T-ALL/LBL cases, constitutes an ideal therapeutic target; however, its expression on normal T cells necessitates innovative engineering strategies to overcome CAR-T cell fratricide. Dr. Lu will discuss the very encouraging results including autologous naturally selected constructs, donor-derived products, and universal “off-the-shelf” products that could make a CAR T cell therapy for T cell disease a therapeutic reality. Across all platforms, CD7 CAR-T therapy demonstrated potent initial antileukemic activity, achieving complete remission (CR) rates of 80–95%. Nevertheless, durable disease control remains critically dependent on consolidative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Notably, CD7-negative relapse accounted for 30–60% of treatment failures, emphasizing antigen escape as a primary resistance mechanism. Dr. Lu will discuss hallenges and future directions with the hope that global availability of CD7 CAR-T therapies will be available in the near future for this high-risk patient population.

Chair:

Robert Negrin, MD
President, American Society of Hematology, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Speaker:

Peihua Lu, MD
Beijing Lu Daopei Hospital
Beijing, China
CD7 CAR-T Therapy in T-cell Acute Leukemia/Lymphoma: Past, Present and Future

Presidential Symposium

Peripheral immune tolerance is an active state of unresponsiveness to antigens that should elicit an adaptive immune response. Suppression of fetus-specific cytotoxic T cells during pregnancy and suppression of self-reactive T cells that escape central tolerance and might otherwise cause autoimmune disease are classic examples of such tolerance.  Cancers can induce tumor-specific immune tolerance and thereby evade immune attack. The critical importance of immune tolerance was recently acknowledged in the awarding of the Nobel Prize for the discovery of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) and their requisite role in peripheral tolerance. Surprisingly, the mechanism responsible for inducing such tolerance has remained elusive.  Recently, Dr. Engleman identified an unexpected role erythropoietin (EPO) acting through EPO receptors (EPOR) on conventional Type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1s) and macrophages to promote their tolerogenic maturation and activation of antigen-specific Tregs. EPOR signaling in these dendritic cells induces tolerance to allogeneic organ transplants and fetuses and ameliorates graft versus host disease in mice. On the other hand, blockade of EPOR on these cells results in the loss of tolerance and induction of a cytotoxic T cell response that can cause regression of tumors. These findings suggest that antagonists and agonists targeting EPOR on cDC1s and macrophages may prove useful in the treatment of disorders ranging from cancer and infection to autoimmune disease and allograft rejection.

The thymus which was thought to involute and become non-functional over the course of one’s lifetime has become the focus of new inquiry challenging this conventional teaching. Recent findings indicate that thymic function has significant impact on health and disease throughout life representing a novel paradigm of immune function. In this session Dr. Scadden will discuss how the thymus may affect the outcome of hematologic malignancies, alter sensitivity to immunologic therapies and review current efforts to improve thymus function. 

Dr Fyodor Urnov will describe the use of platform approaches to engineer CRISPR-gene editing based ex vivo and in vivo therapies on-demand for severe pediatric inborn errors of immunity. The development of gene therapy approaches to treat some of the most challenging genetic disorders represents a culmination of decades of research on the biology, pathophysiology and creative application of basic scientific concepts to the treatment of complex diseases. The hope that these may be addressed using therapies developed in the body of the patient represent a truly transformational approach that could have broad applicability.

Chair:

Robert Negrin, MD
President, American Society of Hematology, Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Speakers:

Edgar Engleman, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Palo Alto, CA
Role of EPO/EPOR in Tolerance Induction

David T Scadden, MD
Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Cambridge, MA
Role of the Adult Thymus in Health and Disease

Fyodor Urnov, PhD
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Novel Approaches to in vivo Therapy