• Ham-Wasserman Lecture
• ASH/ASCO Joint Symposium
• ASH/EHA Policy Forum
• Announcement of Awards
• Plenary Scientific Session
• E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize
• Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize
• Announcement of the Dameshek Prize and the Stratton Medal
• Presidential Symposium
• Business Meeting
• Best of ASH

Saturday, December 4

Ham-Wasserman Lecture
Saturday, December 4, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

This lectureship is named in honor of two past Society presidents, the late Thomas Hale Ham, MD, and the late Louis R. Wasserman, MD, distinguished hematologists who contributed extensively to the Society. The Ham-Wasserman Lecture is given by an individual from outside the United States who has made a major contribution to our understanding of an area that relates to hematology.

The hallmarks of blood-forming stem cells are their motility and developmental potential with overlapping regulators in order to produce mature blood cells on demand. Invivo migration is essential for successful clinical stem cell mobilization and transplantation protocols, and better control of stem cell navigation between the bone marrow and blood can improve clinical outcome. Stem cell homing to the bone marrow, steady state egress, stress-induced recruitment, and clinical mobilization to the circulation are complex, multi-step processes. These processes involve a tightly regulated interplay between cytokines, chemokines, proteolytic enzymes, adhesion molecules, stromal cells, and leukocytes. However, currently how (and why) hematopoietic stem cells migrate to and from the bone marrow as part of host defense and repair is not fully understood. Dr. Tsvee Lapidot will discuss regulation of human CD34⁺ stem and progenitor cell homing and mobilization in the functional, preclinical model of transplanted immune-deficient NOD/SCID mice. The multiple tasks of the chemokine SDF-1 (CXCL12) and its major receptor CXCR4, G-CSF, neurotransmitters, MT1-MMP, RECK, and CD44 in stem cell migration and development will be described. The relationship between stem cell mobilization and bone turnover via bone degrading osteoclasts and bone-forming stromal cells will be outlined. Dynamic interactions between the nervous and immune systems, with the microenvironment driven by circadian rhythms, all regulate stem cell homing and mobilization. The concept of stem cell regulation by the brain-bone-blood triad via stress signals that control the bone marrow reservoir of immature and maturing leukocytes will be presented.

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Sunday, December 5

ASH/ASCO Joint Symposium
Sunday, December 5, 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

The ASH/ASCO Joint Symposium will review of some of the best science from the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting, and the presentations will be delivered by the investigators who contributed to these clinical research successes. Attendees who want an overview of the latest clinical oncology research to complement the research presented at the ASH annual meeting will find this session of value.

ASH/EHA Policy Forum
Sunday, December 5, 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

This symposium is co-sponsored by ASH and the European Hematology Association (EHA). This year’s session will continue to focus on issues that ASH and EHA have identified as important to hematologists from countries around the world.

Announcement of Awards
Sunday, December 5, 1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

• Mentor Award
  In recognition of the value ASH places on mentorship, the Mentor Award was created to reward outstanding role models in the hematology community. Individuals from any country or branch of hematology who have had a sustained career commitment to mentoring, a significant positive impact on their mentees’ careers, and through their mentees have advanced research and patient care in the field of hematology are eligible for the award. The 2010 award winners will be announced at the meeting.

• Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology
  This award, named for Wallace Henry Coulter, a prolific inventor who made important contributions to hematology and to ASH, is bestowed on an individual who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment and made outstanding contributions to hematology, and who has made a significant impact on education, research, and/or practice.

  The 2010 Wallace H. Coulter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hematology will be presented to Volker Diehl, MD, of the Universityof Cologne in Cologne, Germany, forhis pioneering research on Hodgkinlymphoma for more than 40 years.His scientific achievements include the discovery ofthe causative role of the Epstein-Barr virus in infectiousmononucleosis and the study of its association withHodgkin lymphoma. He also cultured the first notoriouslyfragile Hodgkin cell lines and led the development of BEACOPP, a chemotherapy regimen for the treatmentof Hodgkin lymphoma. Dr. Diehl has received muchrecognition for his work, including the German JohannGeorg Zimmermann Prize for Cancer Research, and is Honorary Chairman of the German Hodgkin LymphomaStudy Group, one of the largest Hodgkin studies in theworld, which he founded in 1978. Dr. Diehl also foundedthe Competence Network Malignant Lymphomas inGermany, which has transformed the way patientswith lymphoma are treated within the German healthinsurance system. Dr. Diehl has devoted his scientificlife to the understanding and treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma, and his career is a great example ofexcellence in translational and clinical research.lifetime commitment and made outstanding contributions to hematology, and who has made a significant impact on education, research, and/or practice.

Plenary Scientific Session
Sunday, December 5, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

During this prestigious session, which is traditionally a highlight of the annual meeting, attendees will hear the presentations of the most ground-breaking abstracts selected by the Program Committee from among the thousands submitted from around the world. The speakers will be announced on the ASH website when the abstracts are posted online in early November.

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Monday, December 6

E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize
Monday, December 6, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

This award and lectureship was created in 1992 and named after the Nobel Prize laureate and past Society president E. Donnall Thomas, MD. The E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize recognizes pioneering research achievements in hematology.

Hematopoietic stem cells are derived during embryogenesis and can self-renew or differentiate into peripheral blood lineages. During development, tissues are induced to express hematopoietic transcription factors in specific regions of the embryo. Utilizing the zebrafish as a model system, signaling pathways have been found that are critical for blood stem cell formation, and these pathways are also used for stem cell self-renewal in adults. For instance, the wnt, notch, and cdx-hox pathways are required for blood development and also participate in adult stem cell response to injury and leukemia. PGE2 can stimulate hematopoietic stem cells in zebrafish embryos, mouse marrow transplantation, and human cord blood experiments. The interaction of the wnt and PGE2 pathways regulate stem cell self-renewal and homing. Studies of embryos have thus provided invaluable information on the pathways that regulate hematopoietic stem cells. 

Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize- New This Year
Monday, December 6, 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

This award and lectureship is named for the late Ernest Beutler, MD, past president of ASH and physician-scientist for more than 50 years. It is presented to two individuals and is intended to recognize major advances related to a single topic. Together, the achievements of these individuals have enabled advances in basic science as well as in clinical science and translational applications.

Platelet aggregation is responsible for primary hemostasis and arterial thrombosis. Studies designed to understand why fibrinogen is required for platelet aggregation led to the discovery of the platelet fibrinogen receptor, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa, later renamed αIIbβ3, which was subsequently found to be a member of the integrin family of adhesion receptors and the prototypic example of regulated integrin function. Studies of patients who lack the receptor on an inherited basis (Glanzmann thrombasthenia) and animal models of thrombosis led to the development of αIIbβ3antagonists, the first rationally designed antiplatelet agents, to prevent and treat ischemic cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Joel S. Bennett will discuss the discovery of the platelet fibrinogen receptor and subsequent elucidation of its structure and function.

Dr. Barry S. Coller will discuss the development of αIIbβ3 antagonists.

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Tuesday, December 7

Announcement of the Dameshek Prize and the Stratton Medal
Tuesday, December 8, 9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

• William Dameshek Prize
  The William Dameshek Prize, named for the late William Dameshek, MD, a past president of ASH and the original editor of Blood, recognizes a recent outstanding contribution to the field of hematology.

  The 2010 Dameshek Prize will be awarded to David T. Scadden, MD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, MA, for his landmark contributions to stem cell biology. Dr. Scadden increased the fundamental understanding of the stem cell niche and how cells engage it. His laboratory was the first to show that modifying CXCR4 can lead to stem cell mobilization and more recently defined two new molecular regulators of stem cell homing and engraftment. These, combined with real-time imaging of individual stem cells engrafting in their niche, provide new opportunities for understanding and manipulating the processes critical for stem cell transplantation. His contributions have altered thinking in the field and given direction for interventions to improve transplantation.

• Henry M. Stratton Medal
  The Stratton Medal, named for the late Henry M. Stratton, a co-founder of the publishing house of Grune and Stratton, honors an individual whose well-recognized contributions to hematology have taken place over a period of several years.

  The 2010 Stratton Medal goes to Sanford Shattil, MD, of the University of California – San Diego, San Diego, CA, for his remarkable achievements in the area of platelet cell biology and signal transduction. Dr. Shattil led the way in defining the roles of numerous kinases, scaffold proteins, small G-proteins, and exchange factors in outside-in integrin signaling platelets. He has often been the first to introduce cutting-edge approaches into the platelet field, including live cell imaging and pioneering the technique of deriving megakaryocytes from mouse bone marrow or human stem cells to use as a molecularly tractable model of platelet signaling. Dr. Shattil has also served as treasurer of ASH and as editor-in-chief of Blood, and continues to contribute to the Society through workshops aimed at young investigators to teach them how to prepare and submit manuscripts.

Presidential Symposium
Tuesday, December 7, 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

This session will focus on the current status of umbilical cord blood transplantation to treat malignant and nonmalignant disorders through hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell transplantation. In addition, innovations currently being evaluated, as well as future prospects that will enhance the efficiency and efficacy, and possibly broaden the applicability, of cord blood cells for future health benefit will also be discussed. The presentations will be given by pioneers in the field of clinical cord blood transplantation.

Dr. Eliane Gluckman will review the current state of sibling and unrelated allogeneic cord blood transplantation, focusing on transplantation of single cord blood units. She will provide thoughts on where she envisions the field to be in five, 10, and 25 years.

Dr. John Wagner will focus on potential strategies for improving hematopoietic engraftment and immune reconstitution. He will cover ex-vivo expansion, homing, T regulatory cells, and T progenitors to optimize the “graft” in the setting of cord blood transplantation. He will show clinical and preclinical data in each of these areas with results in adult transplants and double unit cord blood transplants serving as his background.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg will discuss the lessons learned from the use of cord blood transplantation in the treatment of inherited metabolic disease and extension of these observations into the use of cord blood in tissue repair and regeneration. She will place emphasis in this latter regard on the role of cord blood transplantation in genetic and acquired brain injuries.

The audience will learn from this symposium where the field of cord blood transplantation is now, where we might expect the field to be in the near and distant future, and what innovations will be necessary to take us there. Be prepared for realistic and potentially futuristic thoughts on this and for healthy disagreements among the speakers.

Business Meeting
Tuesday, December 7, 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

At least one month prior to the annual meeting, reports on ASH’s financial status, Blood, awards, and information about the Society’s leadership nominations are made available on the ASH website for review by ASH members. The brief business meeting will offer a forum for members to raise issues of concern regarding the information presented in these documents. The business meeting will conclude with the traditional passing of the gavel to the new ASH President.

Best of ASH
Tuesday, December 7, 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.

Before heading home on Tuesday, make time to attend “Best of ASH” to hear a distillation of “take-away” themes from the meeting. With more than 3,000 abstracts presented over four days, it is impossible to attend every session. During this one-hour session, 2010 Annual Meeting Program Co-Chairs will identify a few of the key themes of the 2010 meeting so that you know what’s “hot.” This is one session that should not be missed, so plan accordingly.

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