ASH Annual Meeting Programs

Member-Led Session Ideas for 2026 ASH Scientific Symposia, Spotlights, and Ancestry Origins in Personalized Medicine

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) holds several slots for member led session ideas for the 2026 Annual Meeting. The following programs are eligible: Scientific Symposia, Scientific Spotlights, and the Special Interest Session on Ancestry Origins in Personalized Medicine. This approach empowers the hematology community and positions the Annual Meeting to continue to feature emerging and innovative areas of science.

The application cycle for the 2026 session ideas is now closed. Should you have any questions about this process or the programs in question, please reach out to ASH’s Director, Scientific Affairs, Alice Kuaban, at [email protected].

A person gives a presentation at a podium during the 2024 ASH Annual Meeting

Key Dates

February 27, 2026 Applications open on the ASH website for individuals to submit their applications.
March 30, 2026 Deadline for Submissions. (Submissions are now closed.)
March 31 - April 10, 2026 Review and vetting of proposals by ASH staff for completeness preparation for the Scientific Program Co-Chairs’ review.
April 13 - 30, 2026 Scientific Program Co-Chairs review submitted proposals and make a final decision.

Note: April 27-May 1, 2026: Potential Ancestry Origins in Personalized Medicine sessions under consideration by the Scientific Program Co-chairs will be shared with other relevant committees ASH for feedback.
Week of May 18, 2026 Scientific Program Co-Chairs present their selections to the Committee on Scientific Affairs (CSA) during the CSA’s monthly call.
May 29, 2026 Final sessions are reviewed and approved by the Annual Meeting Accredited Education Committee.
June 5, 2026 Notifications go out to organizers informing them of the status of their applications and a request goes out to session chairs asking that they begin inviting their speakers.

Description of Member Led content opportunities

Scientific Symposia

(5 slots available)

These sessions should cover topics that cut across many sub-disciplines of hematology and thus appeal to a wide audience.

  • Sessions should feature three (3) speakers and one (1) chair.
  • The sessions being proposed should focus on science and research – be it fundamental, translational, or clinical – and not clinical application or patient care.
  • The proposed sessions should address a gap and highlight an exciting “hot topic” not covered elsewhere in the Scientific program (Note: See ASH website for description of the Scientific Program.
  • Sessions will be 75 minutes long.

Scientific Spotlights

(6 slots available)

These sessions are designed for a smaller audience and are usually focused on a specific/niche topic not covered in the Scientific program. ASH strives to feature a balance of malignant and classical hematology topics in the Scientific Spotlight program.

  • Sessions should feature two (2) speakers (speakers also co-chair the session)
  • The sessions being proposed should focus on science and research – be it fundamental, translational, or clinical – and not clinical application or patient care.
  • Sessions will be 75 minutes long.

Special Interest Scientific Session on Ancestry Origins in Personalized Medicine

(1 slot available)

This session is meant to highlight the role of ancestry and genomics in the conduct of basic, clinical, and translational research and ultimately personalized medicine.

  • The session should feature 2 Co-chairs and no more than 3 speakers.
  • The sessions being proposed should focus on science and research – be it fundamental, translational, or clinical – and not clinical application or patient care.
  • Session topics that lean towards addressing how deeply entrenched systems or beliefs can result in poorer outcomes for certain patient populations or explore the role of ancestry in basic and translational research, are preferred.
  • The session will be 75 minutes long.

ASH’s Commitment to Excellence Through Expansion and Inclusion

In an effort to keep each session and the entire Annual Meeting program representative of all individuals who contribute to the field, session organizers should remain mindful of the following:

  • A variety of affiliations and geographic locations (including regional and global variation) throughout each program is encouraged.
  • ASH encourages speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives to participate in each program.
  • The participation of early-career speakers is also encouraged.

Criteria for Selection

Applicants must be investigators from academic institutions. Representatives from Industry and nonprofits are not eligible to apply for the Scientific Symposia, Scientific Spotlights, and Special Interest Session on Ancestry Origins in Personalized Medicine. Applications submitted by industry and nonprofit representatives will be passed along to relevant ASH Staff for consideration in other opportunities.

  • Organizers should submit only one session proposal and must choose one program type (Scientific Symposia or Scientific Spotlight or Special Interest Session).
  • The organizer(s) must be an ASH member in good standing (i.e. dues paid).
  • The proposed session must be submitted to the appropriate program. Organizers should review each program’s description above before submitting an application.
  • The session proposal must be complete, with all details filled in. Specifically, the following details will be required:
    • Session title
    • Session rationale
    • Proposed session chair and alternate (if applicable) (Note: Proposed chairs must be ASH members in good standing i.e. dues paid)
    • Proposed speakers (One primary and two alternates)
    • Talk titles for each proposed speaker
    • Justification for each proposed speaker

    **Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered

  • Proposed sessions should focus on science and research – be it fundamental, translational, or clinical – and not clinical application or patient care.
  • Proposed sessions should not overlap with existing Scientific Program sessions in either topic OR speakers. ASH staff will periodically review submissions and contact organizers if an overlap is identified.
  • Sessions highlighting emerging areas of science in hematology (e.g., artificial intelligence, computational biology, the microbiome’s role in the onset and progression of hematologic diseases, in vivo editing - gene therapy and CAR-T, early phase clinical trials - especially in the international setting, challenges and opportunities of conducting basic science in low-to-middle-income countries) will be strongly considered.
  • Sessions that align with and/or address topics covered in ASH’s Agenda for Hematology Research will also be strongly considered.

POLICIES GUIDING SCIENTIFIC SESSION PLANNING AND EXECUTION

Participation in Friday Satellite Symposia

ASH policy requires that no participant of the invited program serve as faculty in any 2026 Friday Satellite Symposia, scheduled for December 11, 2026. These are industry- or non-profit organization-supported, CME-certified symposia that are not part of the official ASH annual meeting program and are planned solely by the sponsoring organization.

Scientific Integrity

Transformative scientific research is an essential part of ASH’s mission. Therefore, ASH expects all scientific research presented or discussed during the Scientific Symposia, Scientific Spotlights and Special Interest Scientific Sessions to conform to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation.

ASH’s Commitment to Excellence Through Expansion and Inclusion

As the world’s largest professional society of scientists and clinicians dedicated to conquering blood diseases, ASH seeks to expand the availability of professional hematologic care while promoting the highest standards of excellence in hematology research. The Society welcomes and encourages engagement and participation of all individuals in the Society.

In addition, given ASH’s commitment to ensuring that clinical trial enrollment reflects the spectrum of the general population at risk for the disease under investigation, ASH requests that demographic information regarding sex, ancestry, age, or other relevant factors of enrolled subjects be included in presentations in the Scientific Symposia, Scientific Spotlights, and Special Interest Scientific Sessions with a clinical trial focus, if this information is available. If some or all information is not available, the Society asks that presenters disclose in their oral presentation the limitations that led to such data not being collected.