• January
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
8th Annual Winter Symposium
Jan. 15-18
Westin Kierland Resort
Scottsdale, Ariz.

• February
6th International Congress on New Trends in Immunosuppression
Feb. 5-8
Salzburg Congress Centre
Salzburg, Austria

Tandem BMT Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and IBMTR/ABMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 13-17
Coronado Springs Resort
Orlando, Fla.

• March
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
95th Annual Meeting
March 27-31
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Fla.

European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)
30th Annual Meeting
March 28 - 31
Palau de Congressos de Catalunya
Barcelona, Spain

• April
American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPH/O)
17th Annual Scientific Meeting
April 29-May 2
Westin St. Francis Hotel
San Francisco

• May
International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
10th Annual Meeting
May 7-10
The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA)
5th International Donor Registry Conference
May 26-29
Keio University Mita Campus
Tokyo, Japan

• June
Canadian Blood and Marrow Transplant Group (CBMTG)
Biennial Meeting
June 3-6
London Convention Centre
London, Ontario

American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
40th Annual Meeting
June 5-8
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans

International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
2nd Annual Meeting
June 10-13
Boston Seaport Hotel
Boston

• July
Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS)
4th Annual Conference
July 18-23
Palais de Congres de Montreal
Montreal, Quebec

International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH)
33rd Annual Scientific Meeting
July 17-20
New Orleans Marriott
New Orleans

• October
American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)
30th Annual Meeting
Oct. 1-6
San Antonio Convention Center
San Antonio, Texas

American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
57th Annual Meeting
Oct. 23-26
Baltimore

American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
54th Annual Meeting
Oct. 26-30
Toronto, Canada

2005
Tandem BMT Meetings
(Combined ASBMT and IBMTR/ABMTR annual meetings)
Feb. 10-14
Keystone Resort
Keystone, Colo.

A Word from President Joseph Antin, M.D.

Have You Voted?
If you are a Member of our society, you should have received a ballot in the mail within the past week or so for choosing ASBMT officers and directors. To my knowledge, few medical societies are as democratic as ours.

In many national associations, the officers and directors are selected by their Board, which tends to be self-perpetuating. Others present a single slate of nominees for office, one candidate per position, so the outcome is virtually decided before the balloting begins. Still others have a house of delegates, which is fine but doesn’t provide for direct participation by the members.

I’ve always been proud that our Society gives members a contest for every open officer and director position. Members have a real say in who will be the leaders of their Society. One of the benefits has been a healthy turnover of leadership and a constant infusion of new ideas and experiences.

If you think your ballot doesn’t count (for instance, if you live in Massachusetts), I can tell you about an election not long ago that was won by a single vote. It was a near miss “constitutional crisis” for our Society because we had no policy on how to break a tie. Since then, the ASBMT Bylaws have been amended to provide a tie-breaking procedure. At the time of the amendment, the Board received several amusing recommendations, including the suggestion of a duel between tied candidates. We can hope that this wit isn’t reflective of the general sense of humor of our members.

The deadline for returning your ballot is Jan. 14. You know what to do.

Conventional Intimacies
Last month in San Diego, as a perennial ASH attendee, I was once again struck by the quality of the work but the inability to see what I wanted to see. Simultaneous sessions are often too simultaneous for me to move back and forth effectively, particularly given the distances between some of the meeting rooms. If you miss a talk, it’s hard to connect with the author to chat about it later.

The posters, too, are often quite interesting, but the sheer numbers and noise makes it difficult to take it all in. Information overload. This is in contrast to our own Tandem BMT Meetings, where time and space do not require Stephen Hawking to set your itinerary. Our more intimate meeting allows us all to digest some of the data and meet to establish collaborations. I encourage everyone to make their travel arrangements early – remembering that Presidents’ weekend coincides with our meeting.

A Cruise Anyone?
Speaking of the Tandem BMT Meetings, what would you think of holding the annual February event on a cruise ship in the Caribbean?

As you probably know, we have a pattern of meeting every second year in Keystone, Colo. In the alternate years we head to a warm climate. The year 2008 will be a non-Keystone year. During our recent Board of Directors meeting, it was suggested that we consider placing the entire meeting on a privately booked cruise ship, sailing perhaps out of Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

There are pros and cons. One of the big concerns is that participants, and speakers, couldn’t come and go as easily. But maybe that is a “pro” as well. We will need to look into the cost of such a venture, of course. Please let us know your thoughts, using the ASBMT Monthly Poll to the left of this column.

On behalf of the Society’s officers and directors, I extend to you and your family our best wishes for a very happy and productive New Year.

– Joe