Andrzej Hellmann MD, PhD
Head of the Department of Hematology

University of Gdańsk, Poland

Andrzej Hellmann is Professor of Medicine and head of the Department of Hematology of Medical University of Gdańsk since 1991. He received his medical degree in 1971 and PhD in 1976 from Medical University of Gdańsk.
Dr Hellmann completed a postdoctoral fellowship in leukemia biology at the Hammersmith Hospital in London in 1978 – 80. He is a specialist in internal medicine, hematology and clinical transplantology.  From 1982 to 1990 he was associate professor at Department of Medicine. In 1991 he organized and was appointed head of the new established Department of Hematology with BMT Unit at University of Gdańsk. Prof. Hellmann is author and co- author of more than 300 peer–reviewed articles in medical journals including NEJM and Blood. During a period 2005 – 2008 Prof. Hellmann was acting as a vice – rector of Medical University of Gdańsk. From   2003 till 2011Prof. Hellmann was the president of the Polish Society of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine. He is also the chairman of CML Study Group within the Polish Adult Leukemia Group. He is also the member of European Leukemia Network, American Society of Hematology, European Hematology Association, European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and International Society of Hematology. His special practical and research interest is still focused on myeloproliferative neoplasms.

Professor Peter Valent, MD

Senior Researcher and Senior Clinician 
Medical University of Vienna, Austria 

Professor Dr. Peter Valent is M.D. and a Senior Researcher as well as Senior Clinician at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He is the Scientific Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Oncology (LB-CO) and leads a Special Research Program on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms in his University. He also coordinates a Clinical Study Group working in the field of myeloid neoplasms (focusing on CML, MDS, AML and mastocytosis) and is head of the Outpatient Clinics and Hematology Ambulatory in his institution. Professor Valent also participates in several other Research Programs in Vienna, including one dedicated to Cardiovascular Biology (10 years) and one dedicated to Allergic Diseases (20 years). Professor Valent is coordinator of the Vienna Cancer Stem Cell Club (VCSCC), coordinator of an International Working Group on Eosinophil Disorders (ICOG-EO), and coordinator of the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis (ECNM). He also coordinates the CML-Platform and MDS-Platform of the Austrian Society for Hematology and Oncology (ÖGHO), runs a Center of Excellence of the MDS Foundation, a Center of Excellence and Reference Center of the ECNM, and a Reference Center in CML. During the past 15 years, Professor Valent has organized a number of scientific meetings in Vienna, including several Consensus Conferences on Diagnostic Criteria and Diagnostic Standards. A special focus in his research are neoplastic stem cells; the identification of novel markers and targets in myeloid neoplasms; the development of disease-related criteria and targeted drug therapies in myeloid neoplasms; and the evaluation of target interaction profiles and side effects of novel drugs. Professor Valent is member in diverse Medical Societies, including the American Society of Hematology (ASH), and serves on various editorial boards and as a reviewer in most top hematology journals. He published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles and numerous review articles in his areas of expertise, lectured widely in Europe, North America, and Japan, and received numerous scientific awards. His h index arrived at 74, first-author h index at 32, and total citations at >21,000.

Professor of Medicine Chair, Department of Haematology Hammersmith Hospital
Imperial College, London (UK)

Professor Jane Apperley is the Chair of the Department of Haematology at the Imperial College and the Chief of Service for Clinical Haematology at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, England. Jane Apperley served as the President of both the European Group of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Centre for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research.

She qualified in Medicine from the University of Birmingham and after initial specialization in internal medicine she completed specialist training in hematology in Birmingham, London, Cambridge and Boston.

Her particular interests are the biology and management of CML, which has led to an extensive experience in stem cell transplantation and to the use of signal transduction inhibitors. Her group at the Hammersmith Hospital site has extensive experience in the use of the first- and second-generation TKI’s, particularly in the areas of molecular monitoring and mechanisms of drug resistance. She has a long-standing interest in the ways in which hematologic diseases and their treatment impact fertility, pregnancy, and fetal outcome.

Leader, Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) Program

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York

Professor Michael Mauro directs the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School and completed his residency and fellowship training at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. For more than a decade he worked with Dr Brian Druker at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute in Portland, Oregon with a focus on research in CML. There he directed the CML clinical trial program and was involved in the early development and sentinel clinical study of targeted therapy for CML. His clinical focus is in CML with interest in therapy optimization, novel therapies, treatment free remission and pregnancy/fertility, as well as other myeloproliferative neoplasms, including myelofibrosis, polycythemia and thrombocytosis and less common conditions such as eosinophillic and mast cell disorders.