Elizabeta Nemeth, PhD
Kojo Elenitoba-Johnson, MD
Could you describe the preparation process behind this year’s Scientific Program agenda?
Dr. Nemeth: There is an extensive process that involves not only us as co-chairs but also the chairs and members of all of ASH’s scientific committees, who do the bulk of the work shaping each session. ASH’s staff members are also heavily involved in shaping the whole Scientific Program. The effort takes around a year. The individual scientific committees come up with ideas for their own niche, their own field, of what they would like to present as the hottest new science and proposed speakers.
Then we all meet at least two times to go over the proposals and discuss [the agenda] in detail, whether it’s as good as it could be or if we could improve it by changing certain topics or speakers. We also pay attention to the balance between male and female and international speakers to have as diverse representation as possible [among] junior and senior presenters.
After we go through at least two rounds of discussion with the chairs of individual scientific committees and we have relatively final proposals, it goes to the Annual Meeting Accredited Education Committee, where they give their input as well. It’s a very prolonged process until the final program is done.
Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson: The process is interactive as well, so there are interactions in the interim between the official two periods when we directly communicate with the scientific committee chairs. There’s a bit of an ongoing back-and-forth, and the big decisions get made when we have the larger group meetings.
What are the topics of emphasis at this year’s meeting? Are there any particular topics that have emerged as particularly important or urgent in the field?
Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson: The nice thing about being in the hematology space is that there’s always something new and exciting. You can always be certain that from one year to another, there will be an arena that seems to attract a lot of attention.
Something that’s been striking to me is the degree to which they have emphasized the participation and reach for diverse groups: the diseases experienced by people who would otherwise not be covered in the conventional sense and the efforts to recruit speakers who might be representative of the demographics that tend not to be fully included in the national program.
Dr. Nemeth: There is always an effort to have scientific committees collaborate with each other and span multiple topics for more interactive and more involved cross-disciplinary types of sessions, and this year we have at least three of those joint sessions. Hematopathology and lymphoid neoplasia did one together, as did immunology and host defense with transplant biology, and myeloid biology with stem cell and regenerative medicine. Something that ASH has recently started doing is crowdsourcing ideas for sessions, and they have done that this year as well. In addition to sessions proposed by scientific committees of these individual fields, the membership at large is invited to propose the hottest topics that they would like to see.
Joint Session: Lymphomagenesis - What Normal Immunology, Abnormal Immunology, and Genomics Can Teach Us about Lymphoma Biology and Novel Therapeutic Strategies
Saturday, December 9, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., San Diego Convention Center, Ballroom 20AB, Upper Level
Joint Session: Genome Engineering for Enhanced Blood Cancer Immunotherapy
Sunday, December 10, 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., San Diego Convention Center, Room 6CF, Upper Level
Joint Session: Ontogeny and Myeloid Disorders of Childhood
Saturday, December 9, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom, Salons 5-6
Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson: It’s a refreshing idea to get input from the potential participants as well, not just coming from the “committee experts.”
Dr. Nemeth: There are two types of those crowd-sourced things. One is Scientific Symposia that are supposed to be of broader interest, and the other is Scientific Spotlights, which are supposed to be very niche.
What sessions do you consider “can’t miss” for you personally?
Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson: I make an effort to attend the plenary sessions. I also try to attend the award talks, mainly because they offer a lot of perspective and underscore problems that were solved based on the work of the individual being presented. I often attend the talks that are linked to my practice specialty and my research specialties of hemopathology, genomics, and blood disorders.
Dr. Nemeth: That covers it all. I’m a basic scientist specializing in iron disorders, so I don’t have to attend talks that are related to my practice. But everything else that Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson mentioned applies to me, too.
What advice would you give to attendees as they try to prioritize which sessions to attend?
Dr. Nemeth: Start to look through the app early and organize things that you would like to and can attend. Also remember that ASH Remote Session Viewing areas will be available during the meeting if you don’t have time to reach the room in person. Furthermore, the virtual meeting platform will be available during and after the meeting.
Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson: My recommendation is to bring comfortable shoes because sometimes the sessions of interest can be in diametrically opposite parts of the convention hall, and you’ll find yourself doing quite a bit of walking if you want to catch those sessions. This year ASH staff worked very hard to schedule related sessions in geographical proximity and will continue to do so in the future. I think Dr. Nemeth gave the best advice, which is that being prepared ahead of the meeting really helps.
What do you hope attendees will take away from the meeting?
Dr. Elenitoba-Johnson: Obviously, you can obtain the research remotely. But when you attend in person, the biggest benefit is being able to talk to people one-on-one and establish relationships that might spur future collaborations. The best work typically comes out of collaborations because if it’s a proper collaboration, it’s representative of the strength of you and your collaborator, and those natural synergies make the work better and faster. Beyond all of this, you also make some good friends.
Dr. Nemeth: Agree. Not only will participants get exposed to the newest scientific ideas and findings and the newest tools that are available, which may inspire them, but they will also very likely form collaborations. They certainly should not hesitate to interact with people from many different spheres because that’s the lasting effect of this meeting, to find collaborations from many different areas that you wouldn’t have otherwise.