Professor Susanne Saußele, MD

Head, CML Excellence Center

III. Medizinische Klinik, Hematology and Oncology
University of Mannheim

Mannheim, Germany

Susanne Saußele studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg and specialized in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology. She completed her thesis in the laboratory of Prof Dr Hehlmann and made her habilitation in Internal Medicine in 2013. In 2017, she was appointed as Professor of the University of Heidelberg. Currently, she is the leader of the CML Excellence Center in Mannheim including the molecular laboratory and the Study Centre of the German CML Study Group. She is acting as chief resident of the policlinic at the III. Med. Klinik, Medizinische Fakultät Mannheim, University of Heidelberg. Prof Saußele is also active as a project leader in EUTOS (European treatment and Outcome Study of CML) and in the E-MPN network (European network for MPN)and as active member in the ELN CML Working Party. Additionally she is member of the Scientific Program Committee of EHA.

Languages spoken: German, English

Professor Qian JIANG, M.D.

Professor of International Medicine

Peking University People’s Hospital

Peking University Institute of Hematology

China

Medical education

• 1984-1990: M.D. Peking University Health Science Center

Clinical history

• 2017 - present: Chief Physician and Professor of Internal Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Institute of Hematology
• 2010 - 2017: Chief Physician and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Institute of Hematology
• 2004 - 2010: Associate Chief Physician of Internal Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Institute of Hematology
• 1996 - 2004: Attending Doctor of Internal Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Institute of Hematology
• 1990 - 1996: Resident Physician of Internal Medicine, Peking University People's Hospital, Peking University Institute of Hematology

Research interests

• Clinical research of CML, MPN, AML, ALL, and CLL

Dr Carolina Pavlovsky, MD

Fundaleu Hospital and Clinical Research Center

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Carolina Pavlovsky works as a hematologist at Fundaleu (Foundation to fight Leukemia) in Buenos Aires and serves as Head of the Research Department since 2010. She received her doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires and completed her training in internal medicine and hematology at the National Academy of Medicine in Buenos Aires.

Her main interests are chronic leukemias: molecular and clinical aspects. Since 2003, she has worked on multiple research protocols for chronic leukemias and is in charge of CML and CLL projects. Since 2005, she has coordinated an Argentine multi-center study on molecular monitoring in patients with CML and since 2011 she coordinates the clinical aspects of a new multi-centric study on mutational analysis of patients with CML and treatment failure. In June 2008, she undertook a training at the Department of Leukemias at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In 2014 she obtained a Master's degree in Molecular Oncology from the National Cancer Research Center of Spain (CNIO) and the European School of Oncology (ESO).

Ricardo Teixeira Fernandes, M.D.

Executive Director of the OncoHemato Clinic

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dr. Ricardo Teixeira is the Executive Director of the OncoHemato Clinic in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). He specialized in medical oncology and clinical hematology according to the guidelines of the Brazilian Medical Association. He graduated in medicine at the School of Medicine at the Fluminense Federal University in Niterói in the State of Rio de Janeiro and made his residency at the Lagoa hospital in Rio de Janeiro. He undertook a visitorship at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and John Hopkins Hospital in the USA. He is fellow of the Oncological Institute of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital of the Complutensis University and Master in Palliative Medicine (Madrid Autonoma University in Madrid, Spain). Dr Teixeira used to be chief of the Clinic of Medical Oncology and Clinical Hematology in the São Paulo Air Hospital and Chief at the Bonsucesso General Hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

Dr. Teixeira has published many articles on various subjects in clinical hematology and medical oncology in important international periodics. His last publication was the official publication of the Mexican Hematology Society about CML. He participated in the first clinical trial with Mitoxantrone in Brazil.

Dr. Texeira has recently undertaken a 4-weeks preceptorship at the Leukemia Department in M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (University of Texas). He will disseminate the preceptorship program of the iCMLf in Brazil in order to offer this training to young hematologists. 

Francisco Cervantes, MD, PhD

Hematology Department

Hospital Clínic

University of Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain

Dr Francisco Cervantes is senior consultant at the Hematology Department of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and professor at the University of Barcelona. His scientific interest has been focused on the study of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the Ph-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), mainly their natural history, prognosis, biology, and treatment. As a result of the activity in this field, he has published over 300 articles in peer-review journals. He was coauthor of the publications of the IRIS study that allowed the approval of imatinib as frontline treatment of CML, participated in the introduction of the second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and is a member of the expert panels of the European LeukemiaNet for CML and MPN treatment. In the MPN field, he was the leading author of the prognostic classification of primary myelofibrosis or IPSS. Dr Cervantes is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the European Hematology Association, the International Working Group for MPN Research and Treatment, the European LeukemiaNet, and the PETHEMA Spanish Collaborative Group.

Professor Nicolas Novitzky, FCP(SA), PhD

Department of Haematology

University of Cape Town, South Africa

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Diploma in Medicine, La Plata University, Buenos Aires, Argentina (December 1974).
• Residency in Internal Medicine (3 year course).  Teodoro Alvarez Teaching Hospital belonging to the University of Buenos Aires (May 1975 – April 1978).
• Postgraduate Fellowship in Clinical Haematology, Haematology Section, Hospital Clinico, Catholic University, Santiago, Chile (August 1978 – November 1978).
• Postgraduate Fellowship in Clinical and Laboratory Haematology, Groote Schuur Hospital/University of Cape Town, South Africa (January 1979 – January 1982).
• Registrar in Internal Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital/University of Cape Town, South Africa (February 1982 – July 1983).
• Fellow of the College of Physicians of South Africa FCP(SA) (College of Medicine) – May 1984.
• Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates Certificate (ECFMG).  Visa Qualifying Examination (VQE), United States of America – January 1989.
• Certification (Sub-specialty) in Clinical Haematology (College of Medicine) – 1998.
• Specialist in Internal Medicine (Master in Medicine – MMed) - May 1993.
• Philosophy Doctor in Medicine (PhD), University of Cape Town, South Africa - June 1994.

RESEARCH OUTPUTS:

Professor Novitzky has contributed to chapters in books and 89 research publications in local and international peer-reviewed and educational journals.  He has been a Principle Investigator for over 25 clinical trials relating to Chronic Myelogenous Leukaemia (CML), Multiple Myeloma (MM), Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, etc.

His main areas of interest include haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, immune reconstitution following immune depleting therapies, stem cell biology and clonal malignant disorders.

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 Francois-Xavier Mahon

Professor and Senior House Physician

University of Bordeaux, France

Professor Mahon gratuated in clinical hematology from the faculty of medicine, University of Bordeaux and received a PhD for his work on "Selection of Normal Cells in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia". Professor Mahon has completed a Research Fellowship at the Imperial College in London (UK) and is a felllow of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the European Hematology Association (EHA), the French Society of Hematology, and the European Investigators on CML Group (El-CML). He currently serves as the President of the French Group of CML (Fl-LMC) and today has authored or co-authored for than 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals.   

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.

Jeff Lipton, PhD MD FRCPC

Jeff Lipton is Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and Staff Physician on the Leukemia and Allogeneic Blood and Marrow Transplant Services at the Princess Margaret Hospital. He received and honors BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Calgary and went on to a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario. An MRC post-doctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute in Israel with Leo Sachs led to his developing interests in leukemia. After a short time as a junior staff at the University of Connecticut, he had a mid-life crisis and went back to Calgary to go to medical school, followed by a residency in Internal Medicine. He then completed sub-specialty training in Medical Oncology at the University of Toronto and stayed on at the PMH as a staff physician. His clinical practice is in chronic leukemias and bone marrow failure syndromes as well as allogeneic stem cell transplant. Research interests in particular are in CML and its therapy, outcomes and supportive care in BMT, and in the therapy of bone marrow failure syndromes. Jeff serves on the Unrelated Donor Transplant Advisory Board of OneMatch, Past President of the Canadian Bone Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG), was an advisor to the Center for Research on Bone Marrow Transplantation (CIBMTR), has served on the Clinical Trials Group of the CBMTG, was Director of the Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Program at PMH, is Head of the CML Study Group at PMH and is on several international advisory boards relating to the therapy of CML including the International CML Foundations and the ELN and Canadian CML Guidelines Committee. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer reviewed papers and 350 abstracts.

Nick Cross, MA PhD FRCPath 

Nick Cross MA PhD FRCPath studies at the University of Cambridge, initially reading Natural
Sciences and subsequently undertaking a PhD in the Department of Genetics. He started his postdoctoral career at the Hammersmith Hospital, London in 1987, where he developed an interest in chronic myeloid leukaemia under the mentorship of Prof John Goldman. In 2001 he relocated to Salisbury to take up Directorship of the Wessex Regional Genetics Laboratory and Chair of Human Genetics at the University of Southampton. His research, which has resulted in more than 290 peer reviewed publications, focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies as well as the development, validation and standardisation of genetic tests.

Charles A. Schiffer, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, Michigan. He is the director of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Multidisciplinary Program.

Dr. Schiffer earned his BA cum laude at Brandeis University and his M.D. at New York University School of Medicine. He completed his internship, residency, and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Bellevue Hospital under the auspices of New York University School of Medicine and had subsequent training and positions at the Baltimore Cancer Research Institute, National Cancer Institute and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he served as Chief of the Division of Hematology. He has also served as Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Director of Clinical Research at the Karmanos Cancer Institute.

Dr. Schiffer has authored and co-authored more than 300 articles and 80 book chapters on topics concerning the treatment of leukemia in adults, platelet transfusion, and granulocyte transfusion therapy, among others. He has served on the Editorial Boards for Blood, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, International Journal of Hematology, Transfusion Medicine Reviews and Transfusion, and reviews articles for multiple journals. Committee memberships have included Chairman of the Leukemia Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, Chairman of the Food and Drug Administration Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee, and grant reviews for the NCI and Leukemia/Lymphoma Society of America. Dr. Schiffer has been named among American Health Magazine’s and Castle Connelly’s “Best Doctors in America,” “Best Cancer Specialists in the US.” In 2006, he received the Dr. John J. Kenney Award from the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society of America and the Celgene Award for Career Achievement in Hematology. He has received multiple teaching awards from Wayne State University and was recently inducted into the Academy of Scholars, the highest recognition accorded to academic faculty at the University.

Ricardo Pasquini

Universidade Federal do Paraná
Curitiba, Brazil

Ricardo Pasquini is an Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology and former Head of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Hospital de Clínicas of Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, Brazil and also Head of Bone Marrow Transplant Center at the same Institution for almost 30 years.

He pioneered hematopoietic stem cell transplant in Latin America, doing the first transplant in 1979 and more than 1800 procedures, mainly allogeneic, were performed. The major experience in stem cell transplant concentrated in CML and acquired and constitutional Aplastic Anemias patients. Following the advent of TKIs inhibitors (year 2000), he organized and coordinated a CML outpatient clinic where approximately 400 patients have been registered and some enrolled in several protocols. Also, a laboratory for BCR/ABL quantification and mutation detection was settled that receive samples from several Brazilian Centers.

He has been interested in treatment optimization of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and has been involved in the management of the randomized CML Studies I-IV of the German CML Study Group for more than 19 years. His special interests are the molecular monitoring of minimal residual disease and mechanisms of resistance in CML, and targeted therapy in a variety of neoplastic disorders.

Dr. Pasquini is investigator for the nilotinib, dasatinib and bosutinib phase II and phase III studies, has been participating in imatinib phase II and III studies and is a member of World CML Advisory Committee.

He is a member of the American Society of Hematology (member of the International members Committee for nine years), the European Hematology Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the International Society of Experimental Hematology, the American Society of Blood and Marrow transplant and for many years member of the Executive and Advisory Committee o IBMTR/CIBMTR. He is a member of the Brazilian Hematology Association and founder member of the Brazilian Bone Marrow Transplant Society. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and is regularly invited to speak at national and international symposia.

Prof. Dr. Jiri Mayer

Prof. Dr. Jiri Mayer (jmayer@fnbrno.cz), is Deputy Head of the Dept. of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic, and now also the Dean of the Medical Faculty, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic.  

He graduated in 1985 at Brno. After training in general internal medicine during 1985-1990, he started to work at the specialized hematology dept., where he has been working up to now. His certified qualifications are internal medicine, hematology, and oncology. Since 2001, he has been a Professor at the Medical School, Masaryk´s University, Brno, Czech Republic. His scientific experience comprises:  

• Internal medicine, intensive care medicine
• Hemorheology
• Supportive care in hematology/oncology, especially diagnostics and treatment of infection in immunocompromissed patients
• Autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation
• Peripheral blood stem cell transplantation
• Adult stem cell therapy
• Diagnostic and therapy of lymphomas and leukemias (especially CML)  

In 1990, he visited Cancer Research Institute in Berlin, Germany, and in 1996,  Royal Marsden Hospital, Leukaemia/Myeloma Unit, London, UK.  

He is a member of European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, American Society of Hematology, International Society for Experimental Hematology, European Haematology Association, and American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

He is also founding member and now chairman of the CzEch Leukemia Study Group for Life, CELL (http://leukemia-cell.org).  

He has been the principal investigator of many trials since 1995, in the fields of lymphomas and leukemias. He has published more than 300 papers, abstracts, and lectures.