Marquee Sessions and Lectures

2024 Ham-Wasserman Lecture

Saturday, December 7, 2024, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell (RBC) disorder caused by either homozygous inheritance of the hemoglobin S mutation (HbSS), or compound heterozygous inheritance of the hemoglobin S mutation with another ß-globin chain abnormality. India has among the highest hemoglobin S allele frequencies in the world and the third-highest birth rate for babies born with HbSS. 

The Indian sickle cell haplotype is associated with the Arab-Indian or Asian haplotype and is associated with high fetal hemoglobin (HbF) levels and hence, is believed to have mild clinical presentation as compared to other populations.  

In this lecture Dr. Dipty Jain will discuss the status of frequency, comorbidities, and management of sickle cell disease (SCD) in India, which is characterized by relatively high percentages of fetal hemoglobin, accompanied by mild to severe complications observed globally. Additionally she will talk about targeted newborn screening and fixed low dose of hydroxyurea in managing children with sickle cell disease in India. 

Dr. Jain will discuss the milestones and progress in understanding sickle cell disease (SCD) phenotype accelerated by the Government of India’s ambitious ‘’National Sickle Cell Anemia Elimination Mission 2023’’ with comprehensive guidelines and implementation of screening, treat, counsel, educate, development of technology and novel therapies including gene therapy specific to the requirement of India’s population with sickle cell disease (SCD). 

Chair:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Speaker:

Dipty Lalit Jain, MD,MBBS
Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur
NAGPUR, Maharastra, India
Sickle Cell Disease in Developing Countries

2024 Presidential Symposium

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 9:45 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

Red cells constitute ~70% of all cells in the human body and in healthy individuals their circulatory life span is ~ 120 days. At steady state the bone marrow produces 2.5 million red cells per second to maintain normal hemoglobin levels. Anemia characterized by decreased hemoglobin levels is a major global health problem affecting nearly 2 billion individuals. Decreased red cell life span and/or decreased red cell production in the bone marrow account for anemia in various inherited and acquired hemolytic anemias. Significant progress has been and is continuing to be made in our understanding of the mechanistic basis for anemia. The three presentations in the symposium will highlight recent advances in our understanding of red cell biology and of anemia.

Dr. Patrick Gallagher will discuss recent advances which have expanded understanding of the many roles of the erythrocyte membrane. An update on the diagnosis and treatment of membrane disorders and potential emerging therapies will be discussed.

Dr. Naomi Taylor will highlight the pivotal role of metabolite transporters and fuel choice in erythroid lineage commitment and terminal erythroid differentiation. The importance of metabolic reprogramming in diseases of disordered and ineffective erythropoiesis will be discussed.

Dr. Olivier Hermine will explain the mechanisms that control red cell production during terminal erythroid differentiation, focusing on the processes that determine the fate of erythroid precursors between differentiation or cell death. The discussion will also touch upon how these mechanisms are impacted in hemoglobinopathies and myelodysplastic disorders, which can result in ineffective erythropoiesis and anemia. Additionally, therapeutic implications arising from these insights will be emphasized.

Chair:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Speakers:

Patrick G. Gallagher, MD
Nationwide Childrens, Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
Mature Red Cell Membrane Disorders (including genome-wide screening and PK activators)

Naomi Taylor, MD
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
Metabolism and Erythropoiesis (including metabolism, IDH mutations and relevance to MDS, sideroblastic anemia)

Olivier Hermine, MD,PhD
IMAGINE institute Paris France
Paris, France
Ineffective Erythropoiesis in Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease

Announcement of Awards: Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology, ASH Mentor Awards, ASH Award for Leadership in Promoting Diversity, and the Outstanding Service Award

Sunday, December 8, 2024, 1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

WALLACE H. COULTER AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN HEMATOLOGY
ASH will recognize Éliane Gluckman, MD, PhD, of the University of Paris, for a lifetime of achievement in cord blood transplantation. She performed the world’s first human cord blood transplant, which established cord blood as an alternative stem cell source for patients in need of hematopoietic cell transplantation and shortened the delay between donor identification and transplant. She was drawn to hematology because of its potential for growth and innovation. Her first residency position affirmed her passion and interest in Fanconi anemia and sickle cell disease (SCD). From 1988, she led cord blood research as medical director of the bone marrow transplant service and head of the department of hematology at the Saint-Louis Hospital.
Her continued impact includes contributions to understanding disorders such as aplastic anemia, Fanconi anemia, and SCD through the design of new conditioning protocols that?are used to prepare patients for stem cell transplantation. Her current project examines immunogenetic factors that could predict the outcomes and probability of finding a donor for stem cell transplants in people living with SCD and other hereditary disorders.

ASH MENTOR AWARDS
ASH will recognize Stephen Nimer, MD, of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, for his impact on more than 100 hematology trainees with his community-focused mentorship. He serves as a role model for trainees and instills in them the importance of thinking critically and embracing challenges. His willingness to provide feedback, dedication to seizing growth opportunities, and catchy “Nimer-isms” have helped propel mentees into thriving careers.
ASH will recognize Charles Schiffer, MD, of the Karmanos Cancer Institute, for his ability to lead by example and challenge trainees to remain curious, seize opportunities, and think creatively. His mentees have described him as a one-of-a-kind generational teacher and a “mentor of mentors.” He has trained many clinical investigators whose contributions have substantially influenced leukemia and cancer research and improved patient outcomes.

ASH AWARD FOR LEADERSHIP IN PROMOTING DIVERSITY
ASH will recognize James George, MD, of the University of Oklahoma, for his leadership in building a stronger, more diverse hematology workforce. During his ASH presidency in 2005, ASH collaborated with the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) to create ASH-funded AMFDP positions. Since then, ASH has supported nearly 30 recipients, many of whom have risen to the ranks of senior faculty. Dr. George was also a strong supporter of the ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program (MMSAP), which provides research support for medical students underrepresented in medicine to encourage them to pursue hematology. MMSAP has supported more than 300 research opportunities.

OUTSTANDING SERVICE AWARD
ASH will recognize Mary Hulihan, DrPH, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center on Birth Defects & Developmental Disabilities for her work related to sickle cell disease (SCD) and thalassemia. She is the project officer for several cooperative agreements connected to SCD, including the SCD Collection program which has grown tremendously under her leadership. The information generated from the SCD Collection program has informed many aspects of ASH’s SCD initiative and provided valuable information to the greater sickle cell community. Throughout her career, Dr. Hulihan has volunteered to present at many ASH meetings and is an ongoing volunteer with the SCD Learning Community and a long-time co-chair of the ASH-managed SCD Coalition Working Group on Access to Care. She is also an active member of the Department of Health and Human Services Interagency Working Group on SCD and has been instrumental in driving much-needed collaboration across federal agencies with sickle cell programs.

Chair:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Announcement of Awards: William Dameshek Prize and Henry M. Stratton Medals

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

WILLIAM DAMESHEK PRIZE

The William Dameshek Prize, named for the late William Dameshek, MD, a past president of ASH and the original editor of Blood, recognizes an early- or mid-career individual who has made a recent outstanding contribution to the field of hematology.

ASH will recognize Ami Bhatt, MD, PhD, of Stanford Medicine, with the 2024 William Dameshek Prize. Dr. Bhatt is being honored for pioneering the development and application of genomic approaches to studying the microbiome — work that has improved outcomes for many human diseases. She has applied microbiomics in the clinical setting to study the impact of gut decontamination on transplant outcomes and has co-led efforts to study the microbiome in the context of evolving graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis strategies. Dr. Bhatt successfully linked bloodstream infections and outcomes in transplant patients to characteristics within the gut microbiome and uncovered a link between prolonged gastrointestinal SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding and gastrointestinal symptoms, among other major findings. Her unique and highly collaborative work has broad implications across biomedicine, with her landmark research resulting in a broad expansion of knowledge on microbial enzymes that can be developed for gene therapy. 

HENRY M. STRATTON MEDAL

The Henry M. Stratton Medal is named after the late Henry Maurice Stratton, co-founder of Grune and Stratton, the medical publishing house that first published ASH’s journal Blood. The prize honors two senior investigators whose contributions to both basic and clinical/ translational hematology research are well recognized and have taken place over a period of several years.

ASH will recognize Douglas Cines, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, with the 2024 Henry M. Stratton Medal for basic science. Dr. Cines is being honored for more than 40 years of research discoveries that have led to significant increases in the understanding and treatment of thrombocytopenic disorders, including immune thrombocytopenia, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), and thrombocytopenia in pregnancy. Dr. Cines’ main research interest is immunothrombosis, or how the immune system and coagulation interact. He was instrumental in identifying the role of endothelial cells — which help regulate clotting and breakdown of blood clots — as targets of immune injury in lupus, HIT, and antiphospholipid syndrome, thereby providing a rationale for the connection of these disorders to thrombosis. 

ASH will recognize Katherine High, MD, of The Rockefeller University, with the 2024 Henry M. Stratton Medal for translational/clinical science. Dr. High is being honored for spearheading the development of a gene therapy for hemophilia B, approved earlier this year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada. This success comes after more than two decades of challenging research during which she directly contributed to the understanding of DNA defects in hemophilia B, factor VII, and factor X, as well as performed several first-of-their-kind clinical trials in gene therapy, including the first intramuscular and intravascular administrations of an adeno-associated viral vector. These studies resulted in adverse events that were not predicted by animal studies, the basis for which she unraveled in bedside-to-bench laboratory investigations. Dr. High’s research interests, sparked by a chemistry set she was gifted at age 10, also extend to inherited blindness. She was instrumental in developing a gene therapy to restore vision loss in patients with this condition, the first-ever gene therapy for genetic disease to be approved by the FDA in 2017.

Chair:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

ASH-EHA Joint Symposium

Sunday, December 8, 2024, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

Session Overview

The ASH-EHA Joint Symposium is intended to address global issues in hematology from both the North American and European perspectives and provide insight on how international collaboration can help confront these issues. The first of these sessions was held at the ASH Annual Meeting in December 2005, and has taken place twice each year since at the European Hematology Association’s (EHA) Annual Congress in June and the ASH Annual Meeting in December. The leadership of both societies determine the recommended topics and speakers for these events each year, with the society presidents co-chairing the event. This year's topic is Myelodysplasia.  

Myelodysplasia

Myelodysplasia and Myeloproliferative syndromes are complex and heterogeneous clinical entities with varying progression rates. Significant progress is being made in our understanding of the molecular and genetic basis for these disorders. These insights are being used to develop new strategies for optimal patient-specific treatment modalities for effective and optimal clinical management of these disorders.  Dr. Amy DeZern will discuss prognostication and risk stratification strategies for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Dr. Matteo Della Porta will discuss the targeting of cytopenias in low-risk MDS.

Co-Chairs:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Antonio Medina Almeida, MD,PhD
Hospital da Luz Lisboa
Lisbon, Portugal

Speakers:

Amy E. DeZern, MD
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
Prognostication and risk stratification strategies for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

Matteo Giovanni Della Porta, MD
IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital
Rozzano, Milan, Italy
Targeting of Cytopenias in Low-Risk MDS

Best of ASH

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

Best of ASH (BOA) highlights the most cutting-edge science presented in the oral abstract sessions during the Annual Meeting. This year’s session will consist of talks arranged in arranged in 3-4 overarching themes and will be presented by the 2024 Scientific Program Co-Chairs: Drs. Jennifer Trowbridge (The Jackson Laboratory) and Sant-Rayn Pasricha (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research).

Since BOA highlights the research of other investigators, there will be no question and answer following the speakers’ presentations.

Co-Chairs:

Sant-Rayn Pasricha, MD,PhD
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Fitzroy North, VIC, Australia

Jennifer J. Trowbridge, PhD
The Jackson Laboratory
Bar Harbor, ME

Business Meeting and Ceremonial Passing of the ASH President's Gavel

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 11:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

This ceremonial session will mark the conclusion of Dr. Mohandas Narla's term serving as the ASH President in 2024.  Dr. Narla will be recognized for his service to ASH by the ASH President-Elect, Dr. Belinda Avalos.  Dr. Narla will then pass the ceremonial gavel to Dr. Avalos as she begins her year of service to ASH as the 2025 ASH President.  This ceremony will be the conclusion of the in-person annual meeting.

E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Maintenance

Monday, December 9, 2024, 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

In studying the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that regulate hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) maintenance and the roles these mechanisms play in cancer, Dr. Morrison and others identified a series of self-renewal regulators, revealing important principles. First, stem cell self-renewal is mechanistically distinct from restricted progenitor proliferation. Second, self-renewal mechanisms are conserved among stem cells in different tissues. Third, these mechanisms comprise networks of proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressors that are dysregulated in cancer. These networks change over time, conferring temporal changes in stem cell properties that match the changing growth and regeneration demands of tissues. Tumor suppressor expression increases with age in stem cells, suppressing cancer development but also reducing tissue regenerative capacity during aging.

In terms of cell-extrinsic mechanisms, HSC niches in adult bone marrow and spleen have been identified. They are closely associated with sinusoidal blood vessels in both tissues. Leptin Receptor-expressing (LepR⁺) perivascular stromal cells and endothelial cells are the sources of factors required for HSC maintenance in the bone marrow. The identification of these cells has revealed new mechanisms that regulate hematopoiesis in the bone marrow. There are distinct subsets of LepR⁺ cells that create perivascular niches for HSCs and restricted hematopoietic progenitors throughout the bone marrow. LepR⁺ cells also synthesize growth factors that regulate osteogenesis, vascular regeneration, and peripheral nerve maintenance in the bone marrow. A subset of LepR⁺ cells are the skeletal (mesenchymal) stem cells that give rise to the osteoblasts and adipocytes that are produced in adult bone marrow.

This lecture will focus on new insights that have been gained into the mechanisms that regulate HSC maintenance, hematopoiesis, and osteogenesis in the bone marrow as a result of identifying LepR⁺ stromal cells, as well as the implications of these findings for clinical bone marrow transplantation.

Chair:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Speaker:

Sean J. Morrison, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Maintenance

Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize

Controlling Hemoglobin Genes and Curing the Hemoglobin Disorders

Monday, December 9, 2024, 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

Studies of hemoglobin, and its associated disorders, sickle cell disease (SCD) and the thalassemias, have written much of the history of the development of molecular biology and genetic medicine. More than 70 years ago, Dr. Linus Pauling dubbed SCD the first “molecular disease,” and seven years later Dr. Vernon Ingram identified the single amino acid difference between normal and sickle hemoglobin within the adult b-globin protein. With the advent of gene cloning and DNA sequencing, subsequent research in the 1980s elucidated the myriad mutations in the b-globin gene causing reduced or absent b-globin production in b-thalassemias. The benefits of increased expression of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in individuals with SCD or b-thalassemia were recognized by astute clinicians based on of the lack of symptoms in the neonatal period and in the benign hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH) condition. This stimulated interest in understanding the intricacies of globin gene regulation and how the switch from fetal (g)-to adult (b)-globin is normally controlled. In parallel, advances in gene transfer fueled efforts to introduce normal globin genes into hematopoietic stem cells of patients with mutant b-globin genes as curative therapy, an autologous approach built on decades of improvements in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Finally, remarkable advances in the modification of genes with CRISPR over the past decade have provided the means to define with precision the function of specific DNA sequences and develop gene editing approaches for therapy.

These research threads have converged to bring the first successive clinical trials forward for patients with SCD and b-thalassemia. In the last year, both globin gene addition (lovo-cel) and CRISPR gene editing (exa-cel) therapies received FDA approval. This lecture will describe the background and results of these groundbreaking studies, and discuss the challenges faced in bringing therapies to the many patients with SCD and b-thalassemia, particularly in resource-limiting geographic regions.

Dr. Stuart Orkin will describe current perspectives on the transcriptional control of globin genes, focusing on the direct role of the repressor protein BCL11A in silencing of HbF production and how CRISPR editing of an erythroid enhancer within the BCL11A gene forms the basis of the approved editing therapy, exa-cel, developed by CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. John Tisdale will summarize recent advances in ex vivo modification of hematopoietic stem cells for both lentiviral gene and CRISPR gene editing therapies for the hemoglobin disorders, concentrating on clinical parameters and prospects for improving preconditioning and moving toward strategies that would allow application without the need for hospitalization and intensive supportive care.

Chair:

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Speakers:

Stuart H Orkin, MD
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Basic Science

John Tisdale, MD
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
Clinical/Translational Science

Late-Breaking Abstracts Session

Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

This highly anticipated session highlights the Joint Program Committees' selections of the highest-impact abstracts, featuring substantive, novel, and groundbreaking data that were not available by the general abstract submission deadline and would otherwise not be presented at the ASH annual meeting.

Co-Chairs:

John Koreth, MD,MBBS,PhD,DPhil
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA

Rakhi P. Naik, MD
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, MD

Speakers:

Laurie H. Sehn, MD, MPH
BC Cancer Centre for Lymphoid Cancer and The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Tafasitamab Plus Lenalidomide and Rituximab for Relapsed or Refractory Follicular Lymphoma: Results from a Phase 3 Study (inMIND)

Betty Gardie, PhD
Université de Nantes, CNRS, INSERM,
Nantes, France
Identification of Hepatic-like Erythropoietin with Enhanced Activity As a New Cause of Hereditary and Acquired Erythrocytosis

Francis Couturaud, MD, PhD
Univ Brest, INSERM U1304-GETBO, CIC INSERM 1412; FCRIN INNOVTE network
CHU de Brest, France
Extended Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism with Reduced- Vs Full-Dose Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Patients at High Risk of Recurrence

Jihyun Song, PhD
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Andean Enriched NFKB1 Haplotype Reduces Inflammation and Improves Response to Ropeginterferon Alfa-2b in Polycythemia Vera (PV) and Essential Thrombocythemia (ET)

Françoise Bernaudin, MD
Hôpital Intercommunal de Créteil, Université Paris-Est
Creteil, France
Outcome of Cerebral Vasculopathy and Cognitive Performances 10 Years Post-Enrollment in the Drepagreffe Trial Comparing Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation to Standard-Care in Children with Sickle Cell Anemia and History of Abnormal Cerebral Velocities

Timothy S. Fenske, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI
Lack of Benefit of Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (auto-HCT) in Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) Patients (pts) in First Complete Remission (CR) with Undetectable Minimal Residual Disease (uMRD): Initial Report from the ECOG-ACRIN EA4151 Phase 3 Randomized Trial

Plenary Scientific Session

Sunday, December 8, 2024, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
San Diego Convention Center, Hall B

Chair:

Belinda Avalos, MD
Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute
Charlotte, NC

Mohandas Narla, DSc
New York Blood Center
New York, NY

Speakers:

André Baruchel, MD, PhD
University Hospital Robert Debré, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP)
Paris, France
Plenary Introducer

Rachel E. Rau, MD
Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Blinatumomab Added to Chemotherapy Improves Disease-Free Survival in Newly Diagnosed NCI Standard Risk Pediatric B-Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results from the Randomized Children’s Oncology Group Study AALL1731

Michael D. Milsom, PhD
HI-STEM Ggmbh
Heidelberg, Germany
Plenary Introducer

Sen Zhang, PhD
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL
Platelet Factor 4 (PF4) Regulates Hematopoietic Stem Cell Aging

Venee N. Tubman, MD
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, TX
Plenary Introducer

Yvonne Dei-Adomakoh, MBBS, FWACP, MWACP
University of Ghana Medical School
Accra, Ghana
Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Randomized Controlled Trial of Hydroxyurea for HbSC: Results of the Prospective Identification of Variables As Outcomes for Treatment (PIVOT) Trial

Melody Smith, MD,MS
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA
Plenary Introducer

Shan Liu
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Ketogenic Diet Enhances CAR T Cell Antitumor Function Via ß-Hydroxybutyrate

Donald Arnold, MD
McMaster University
Hamilton, ON, Canada
Plenary Introducer

David J Kuter, MD, DPhil
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Efficacy and Safety of Oral Bruton Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (BTKi) Rilzabrutinib in Adults with Previously Treated Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP): A Phase 3, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Group, Multicenter Study (LUNA 3)

Alison W Loren, MD
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Plenary Introducer

Natalie Wuliji, DO
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, WA
Impact of Socioeconomic Factors on Access to and Outcomes of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (allo-HCT) for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML): A Multi-Center Observational Study