Invited Speakers

Dr Nicholas Chiorazzi, USA
	Nicholas Chiorazzi is currently an Investigator in The Feinstein Institute and a Professor of Medicine and of Cell Biology in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed medical training at the Cornell Cooperating Hospitals and postdoctoral research training at Harvard Medical School and The Rockefeller University. After 11 years on the faculty at The Rockefeller University, he moved to the North Shore - LIJ Health System and was subsequently appointed the first Director and CEO of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Dr Chiorazzi's research interests revolve around understanding the activation and maturation of B-lymphocytes in health and disease, in particular chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Dr H Joachim Deeg, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
	Joachim Deeg graduated from the University of Bonn Medical School in Germany, and subsequently received his Internal Medicine Training at the University of Rochester School of Medicine/The Genesee Hospital, in Rochester, New York, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident. From 1976-1978 he was a Fellow in Oncology/Hematology with Dr ED Thomas, and subsequently a faculty member, at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. In 1986 he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at Georgetown University and the Lombardi Cancer Research Center in Washington, DC, where he developed a new Bone Marrow Transplant Program. In 1990 he returned to Seattle, where he is currently a Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. He has worked extensively on questions related to transplantation biology in preclinical and clinical models with emphasis on engraftment of donor cells and graft versus host disease in allogeneic recipients. More recently his work has focused on the regulation of programed cell death and its role in the pathophysiology of MDS. Dr Deeg has published more than 650 papers and has authored or edited several books. He is a member of numerous professional societies and serves on the editorial boards of various professional journals.
Professor Meletios A Dimopoulos, Department of Clinical Therapeutics at the University Athens School Of Medicine, Athens, Greece
	Meletios A Dimopoulos is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Clinical Therapeutics at the University Athens School Of Medicine, Athens, Greece. Dr. Dimopoulos is a member of numerous scientific societies and has authored more than 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals, as well as numerous abstracts and several textbook chapters primarily focusing on plasma cell dyscrasias and genitourinary and gynecologic cancers. He is a journal reviewer for several journals including New England, Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Haematologica, Leukemia, Cancer, European Journal of Haematology, Leukemia and Lymphoma. Dr. Dimopoulos is an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Internal Medicine and of Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports and is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and of Haematologica. Dr Dimopoulos serves of the Scientific Advisory boards of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, of the International Myeloma Foundation, of the International Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation and of the Research Fund for Waldensrom's and he is a member of the European Myeloma Network. Dr Dimopoulos is the recipient of the Robert A Kyle Award for outstanding contributions to Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia.
Professor Anthony Green, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, UK
	Tony Green is Head of the University of Cambridge Department of Haematology and Chairman of Addenbrooke's NHS Trust Department of Haematology. He trained in medicine at the University of Cambridge and University College Hospital London, completing his haematology training at the Royal Free Hospital and the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. He was elected Professor of Haemato-oncology in Cambridge in 1999 and fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001. His research interests focus on two aspects of haematopoietic stem cell biology: the molecular pathogenesis and management of the myeloproliferative disorders and the transcriptional regulation of haematopoietic stem cells.
Dr Michael J Keating MD Anderson Cancer Center
	Michael J Keating is a Professor of Medicine in Hematology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has been a member of the faculty since 1977 and works as a physician in the Leukemia Department. In the earlier phases of his career, the importance of cytogenetics in predicting probability of response to treatment and survival in acute leukemia were foremost in his research interest. Since the mid-1980s chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been the major focus of his research. The development of a new drug for treatment of CLL, called fludarabine, has continued as a major source of clinical research as this drug is now established as the most important single agent in CLL, and a major component of treatment of patients with low grade lymphoma, acute myelogenous leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndrome. His career is marked by close collaboration with laboratory scientists but his major focus has been on delivery of effective, compassionate care to patients suffering from leukemia. In 1988, Dr Keating won the Service to Mankind Award from the Leukemia Society of America and in 1996 was voted one of the best doctors in America by the American Health magazine. In January 2002, he was awarded the Charles A. LeMaistre Outstanding Achievement Award in Cancer and in March 2002, the Rai and Binet Award at the International Workshop on CLL. His major pursuits at the present time are developing new potentially curative therapies for CLL and developing rational combinations of new agents in the treatment of leukemia in general.
Professor John D Shaughnessy Jr Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, UAMS, Little Rock, USA
	John Shaughnessy is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Donna D. and Donald M. Lambert Laboratory of Myeloma Genetics, and Director of the Division of Basic Sciences at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock. Dr Shaughnessy joined the Myeloma Institute at UAMS in 1997 and has built one of the largest comprehensive tissue archives and molecular genetics databases in human disease consisting of approximately 6,000 samples from almost 2,000 patients. He has been a pioneer in the use of genomics in translational cancer research. His group recently recognized the importance of altered Wnt signaling in myeloma and that myeloma tumor cells alter the bone marrow microenvironment by secreting the Wnt-signaling antagonist dickkopf-1 (DKK1). Dr Shaughnessy and his team also recently showed that myeloma consists of 8 distinct molecular entities and identified a gene expression signature of high-risk disease that is predominated by altered expression of genes mapping to chromosome 1. Dr Shaughnessy has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Nature Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Cell, Cancer Cell, New England Journal of Medicine, FASEB Journal, and also Blood, for which he currently serves on the editorial board.
Professor Martin Tallman, Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chicago, USA
	Martin S Tallman is Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Hematologic Malignancy Program at the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. He serves as Chair of the Leukemia Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Dr Tallman is a member of numerous committees of national, regional, and international professional societies involved in the study and treatment of cancer, including the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and the American Association for Cancer Research. He serves on the Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome Committees of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Dr Tallman has contributed a large body of work to the literature addressing the diagnosis, biology, and treatment of acute leukemia and other hematologic malignancies. This work includes original research articles in peer-reviewed journals, textbook chapters and reviews, monographs, editorials, and abstracts. Dr Tallman serves as an Associate Editor of Blood and serves on the editorial boards of a variety of scientific journals. He is a reviewer for many professional publications, including American Journal of Hematology, Annals of Internal Medicine, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr Wyndham Wilson, Stanford University, USA
	Wyndham Wilson obtained his MD and PhD and completed his medical residency at Stanford University. Following a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute, Dr Wilson joined the faculty of the NCI as the Special Assistant to the Director, and later as a principal investigator. Dr Wilson is currently the Chief, Hematological Malignancies Therapeutics Section, Metabolism Branch, Cancer Research Center, NCI. His interests are in the study of the biology and treatment of lymphoid malignancies and he directs phase I, II and III translational studies. His work has focused on targeted treatments and the development of new therapeutic strategies. He has a special interest in the treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and EBV-driven lymphoproliferative disorders.

Dr Morris A Blajchman, Southern Ontario Centres of Canadian Blood Services
	Morris Blajchman is Medical Director of the Southern Ontario Centres of Canadian Blood Services. He has been a member of the Faculty at McMaster University since 1970, where he is currently Emeritus Professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Pathology. In September 2007 the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) appointed Dr Blajchman Chairman of the Transfusion Medicine and Hemostasis Clinical Trials Network (TMH CTN). The Network is comprised of seventeen clinical centers and a data coordinating center. The goal of the TMH CTN is to design and perform multi-center clinical trials comparing management strategies of potential benefit for children and adults with hemostatic disorders and to evaluate novel and existing blood component therapies for the treatment of hematologic disorders. Dr Blajchman has published or has in press over 360 articles relating to both Transfusion Medicine and hemostasis. He is the founding and current Editor of the journal Transfusion Medicine Reviews, which in January 2008 began its twenty-second year of publication. Dr Blajchman has received many awards and honors. These include: in 2003, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Canadian Blood Services; in 2004, the Foundation Lectureship for the Royal College of Pathologists, London, England, and the Emily Cooley Award and Lectureship presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the AABB.
Professor James Bussel, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA
	Dr. James Bussel is Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Obstetrics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. His training was initiated at Yale, continued at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, then Pediatric Residency at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the combined Cornell/Memorial Sloan Kettering program. The great majority of his publications are centered around diagnosis and especially management of patients with ITP including children with ITP, adults with ITP, pregnant women with ITP, HIV infected patients with thrombocytopenia, and fetuses affected by auto and allo immune thrombocytopenia. He has worked with IVIG, IV anti-D rituximab, and most recently the thrombopoietic agents.
Dr Jean-François Hardy MD, FRCPC, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montreal, Montreal, Canada
	Jean-Francois Hardy is a Staff Anesthesiologist at the Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) where he was appointed Chief of the Department of Anesthesiology in 2005. For more than 20 years, he has taught in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Montreal. He was appointed Departmental Chairman (1998 - 2006) and full Professor in 1998. Dr Hardy's research interests include gastro-esophageal reflux and the risk of aspiration pneumonitis, quality in anesthesiology, transfusions, and strategies to decrease bleeding and transfusion requirements. Due to his interest and expertise in the field of blood conservation during the perioperative period, Dr Hardy has presented widely in Canada and abroad, notably in Europe. He has written 12 book chapters and published over 100 scientific articles. In collaboration with French colleagues, Dr Hardy runs an animal laboratory where his team continues to study the effects of hemodilution on hemostasis and those of recombinant activated factor VII on thrombosis and hemorrhage. In 2005, Dr Hardy was awarded the Association des bénévoles du don de sang - Héma-Québec - Bayer Chair in Transfusion Medicine of the Université de Montréal. One of the important missions of the Chair is to study alternatives to blood transfusions in the perioperative period. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia from 2000 to 2004.
Dr Paul Metcalfe, National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Potters Bar, UK
	Paul Metcalfe is a Principal Scientist at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) in Potters Bar to the north of London in the UK. He graduated from the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Bradford and started work in the routine Haematology Department at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He then moved to a research post in the Blood Transfusion Unit at Barts, where he obtained his PhD after working with Professor Alan Waters on platelet and granulucyte immunology. He now works at NIBSC where his interests include HPA genotyping and platelet alloantibody detection. He has been a key figure in standardisation of several aspects of platelet immunology and has published several papers and chapters on methods and reference materials. He manages the Platelet Immunology Quality Scheme and has made several WHO International Standards for platelet alloantibody detection and quantitation.
Dr Marion E Reid, New York Blood Center, New York, USA
	Born in Winchester, England, Dr. Reid has worked in laboratories in New York, California, and England. She was trained a medical technologist and later obtained a PhD degree. She has performed original research and authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles. Marion Reid, with Christine Lomas-Francis, wrote the popular Blood Group Antigens Facts Book, and Blood Group Antigens and Antibodies reference manuals. She has served on many committees, received many awards including the Ivor Dunsford Award, the Sally Frank award; and the 2006 International Woman in Transfusion Award and is a much sought-after lecturer, both domestically and internationally.

Professor David Lane, Imperial College London, London, UK
	David Lane is Professor of Molecular Haematology at Imperial College London. His research interests span haemostasis and thrombosis, with special interest in mechanisms involved in regulation or control of the haemostatic response. He began research more than 35 years ago, and worked variously on fibrinolysis (with Patrick Gaffney), heparin and low MW heparin (with Vijay Kakkar), antithrombin, thrombomodulin, protein C and S, and more recently on von Willebrand factor and ADAMTS13. He has published in excess of 250 articles. He has been elected twice to the Council of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis and currently is joint Editor-in-Chief of the Society journal, the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
Dr David Lillicrap, MD FRCPC, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
	David Lillicrap is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. He is the recipient of a Canada Research Chair In Molecular Hemostasis and a Career Investigator Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. He has served on the Gene Therapy Working Group of the US National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) for the past five years, and is a member of NHF's Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee. He chairs the Gene Therapy and Novel Technologies Committee of the World Federation of Hemophilia and is also the current chairperson of the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis' Scientific and Standardization sub-committee on von Willebrand Factor. He is the Director of the Kingston Regional Inherited Bleeding Disorders Clinic. His research program relates to molecular aspects of the hemostatic system with particular emphasis on novel therapeutic approaches and immunological complications of hemophilia A, and the biology and pathobiology of von Willebrand factor. His research support is provided by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the US National Institutes of Health, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Bayer/CBS/CIHR Partnership Fund and the Canadian Hemophilia Society.
Professor Frits Rosendaal, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
	Frits R. Rosendaal is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands, where he chairs the Departments of Clinical Epidemiology and Thrombosis and Haemostasis. He studied medicine in Rotterdam and obtained his PhD at Leiden University. His main research interest is haemostasis and thrombosis, and he published over 400 papers in the field. He designed the Leiden Thrombophilia Study (LETS), that has been instrumental in the identification of a series of risk factors for thrombosis, e.g., factor V Leiden (Nature, 1994), prothrombin 20210A (Blood, 1996), high levels of factor VIII (Lancet, 1995), factor IX (Blood, 2000), factor XI (N Engl J Med, 2000), TAFI (Blood, 2000). He is President of the Netherlands Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Secretary/Chairman-elect of the Council of the International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. In 2003 he won the Spinoza award, the highest prize for science in The Netherlands.