• December
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
52nd Annual Meeting
Dec. 4-7
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida

• January
Phacilitate Cell & Gene Therapy Forum 2011
Jan. 24-26
The Grand Hyatt
Washington, D.C.

Stem Cells in Development, Tissue Homeostasis and Disease
Keystone Symposia
Jan. 30-Feb. 4
Eldorado Hotel & Spa
Santa Fe, New Mexico

• February 2011
BMT Tandem Meetings
Combined ASBMT and CIBMTR annual meetings
Feb. 17-21
Hawaii Convention Center
Honolulu, Hawaii

• March
Association of Community Cancer Centers
37th Annual Meeting
March 24-26
Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.

American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB)
15th Annual Spring Conference
March 25-29
Hyatt Regency Austin
Austin, Texas

• April
European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)
37th Annual Meeting
April 3-6
Le Palais des Congres de Paris
Paris, France

American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology (ASPH/O)
24th Annual Meeting
April 13-16
Hilton Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
102nd Annual Meeting
April 2-6
Orange County Convention Center
Orlando, Florida

American Transplant Congress
American Society of Transplantation (AST)
April 30-May 4
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• May
The IL-1 Family of Cytokines: From Basic Biology to Clinical Applications
May 8-11
Sandpearl Resort
Clearwater, Florida

Immunology 2011
American Association of Immunologists (AAI)
May 13-17
Moscone Center
San Francisco, California

American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT)
14th Annual Meeting
May 18-21
Seattle, Washington

International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT)
17th Annual Meeting
May 18-21
De Doelen Congress Centre
Rotterdam, Netherlands

11th International Symposium on Myelodysplastic Syndromes
MDS Foundation
May 18-21
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

• June
American Society for Apheresis (ASFA)
30th Annual Meeting
June 1-4
Westland Kierland Resort & Spa
Scottsdale, Arizona

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
47th Annual Meeting
June 3-7
McCormick Place
Chicago, Illinois

International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
ISSCR 9th Annual Meeting
June 15-18, 2011
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

FOCIS 2011
Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS)
June 23-26, 2011
Washington, District of Columbia, USA

A Word from President John Barrett, MD

One of the most valued functions of the ASBMT is to provide training and support to clinical investigators and laboratory-based researchers relevant to stem cell transplantation (SCT). Providing support to research in the field of SCT keeps our Society vibrant, and focusing on the entry of newcomers to the field remains a priority even in difficult times where funding from the pharmaceutical industry has been compromised by new legislation and global financial markets. Getting the attention of our industrial partners is not achieved without some effort. Critical to this are the visits to pharmaceutical companies by the leadership, where we tell them about the ASBMT and our vision for developing SCT, exchange information and solicit support for the Society.

Visits to large multinational and smaller recent start-up companies has been a rewarding and educational experience for me. I was struck by the great diversity in the way companies were structured – sometimes we met with CEOs and sometimes with clinician-scientists. Some of the companies operate from gleaming buildings while others functioned from facilities more akin to a doctor’s surgery. Despite this diversity, it was refreshing that the industry chiefs that we meet shared with us an enthusiasm for improving stem cell transplant outcome and showed a dedication beyond that of doing business, to applying their (sometimes huge) resources to promote advances in medicine. Many people we met had long careers in clinical medicine or medical science before moving into industry, where they perceived they could make a more significant effort to advance medical treatment.

Some of these leaders of industry also join us at the annual “Corporate Council Meeting,” a mutual information exchange and a platform for strategizing partnership with industry. We discuss cell therapy and how ASBMT and industry can work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to achieve our common goals of delivering cell products to the clinic – one of the aims of our own Cell Therapy Task Force. It is all the more rewarding therefore to report that the New Investigator Awards and the Clinical Research Training Course are among the most popular functions of ASBMT that industry supports.

Given our commitment to research and training, ASBMT recently completed a survey of the career development of past recipients of the New Investigator Award, prepared by the Committee on Young Clinicians and Investigators. There were 29 responses from the 46 trainees, and it was gratifying to see that all the awardees were not only active as a blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) physician or researcher (or both), that nearly all were affiliated to some of the top universities in the country, and that three-quarters felt that the award was instrumental in keeping them in the BMT field. Awardees are not avaricious – most felt that the award of $50,000-150,000 was a significant and adequate amount. Most, however, preferred the option of being able to extend the award for three rather than two years. The written comments indicated satisfaction with the scheme and the general sense that the award bought time as well as the opportunity to generate the preliminary data needed for further, and often successful, funding proposals.

This survey will serve several important purposes. Firstly, it is a justification that the Society is on the right track. The field needs individuals with inquisitive minds with the interest and dedication to develop new treatments, and ASBMT can only benefit from cultivating intellectually motivated members. Secondly, we can go back to our industrial partners and show them how their support can help the BMT field. Indeed, as so much effort in developing clinical SCT requires the support of industry to bring new treatments to fruition, “big Pharma” is justified in anticipating their donations to training and career development will help ensure that qualified scientists will be available to help develop and test the next generation of treatments.

-- John