Education Program Provides Framework for Thinking About Patient Care in a Rapidly Changing Field Free

Attendees of the 66th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition are sure to find more than a session or two of interest within the Education Program. Education Program Co-Chairs Rakhi P. Naik, MD, MHS, clinical director of the Division of Hematology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and John Koreth, MBBS, DPhil, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, have made sure to present sessions that span the disciplines of classical and malignant hematology. Here, ASH Clinical News catches up with Dr. Naik and Dr. Koreth to discuss how this year’s Education Program came together and what attendees can expect at this year’s annual meeting.

 
Rakhi P. Naik, MD, MHS      John Koreth, MBBS, DPhil

As co-chairs of the Education Program, what were your primary goals in designing the program?

Dr. Naik: I have been involved in trainee and faculty education for most of my career, and nothing gets me more excited than teaching physicians about the wonders of classical hematology. As co-chair for the classical hematology sessions, my goal was to uncover the breadth and depth of this fascinating field. Classical hematology touches almost every medical discipline, from women’s health to vascular medicine and immunology to global health and beyond. Our understanding of disease biology and the number of approved therapies for classical hematologic disorders continues to expand exponentially. What an exciting time to be a hematologist!

Dr. Koreth: The educational program’s goal remains broadly the same year over year: meeting the educational needs of our target audience. This year I approached the sessions by imagining the broad audience of professionals interested in hematologic malignancies who would attend in person and virtually. This includes practicing clinicians, academic faculty with a clinical interest, trainees including residents, and hematology and medical oncology fellows. We designed the program with this broad audience in mind.

Can you speak about your planning process and how you collaborated to design the program?

Dr. Naik: We talk about classical and malignant hematology as if they are separate disciplines, but the reality is that we have a lot of overlap between the two fields. That’s what makes hematology so interesting! Dr. Koreth and I worked together to span the fields and develop a program that highlighted classical and malignant diseases separately and emphasized disorders where our worlds came together. For example, we have a session that discusses all the cool and fascinating classical disorders that can present with lymphadenopathy and sessions that focus on cancer-associated thrombosis, transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathies, and transfusion-dependent end-of-life care.

Dr. Koreth: Dr. Naik and I bring different perspectives to the Education Program and come together to highlight continuity and change in the field. While we each focused on our specialty, we sought broad agreement regarding scientific background and clinical standards of care. We created a framework for thinking about each topic that balances established standards of care with a desire to understand new challenges and exciting advances. We aim to provide a clear sense of the pros and cons of each therapeutic approach and leave the audience with a better understanding of any controversies in the field, thereby giving clinicians useful tools for weighing options in patient care.

We also sought diverse speakers to address these scientific and clinical developments. We looked for diversity not only in gender and ethnicity but also in career stage and type of institution. We also prioritized the needs of our international audience and gave them representation on the stage.

How does this year’s program differ from that of past annual meetings?

Dr. Naik: Hematology is going through a revolution! Whenever I open a journal, I see a discovery or new drug advancing our field. We wanted to bring this new science to the annual meeting audience and help them contextualize how to integrate it into their practice. For example, one of the groundbreaking advances in classical hematology has been the approval of gene and other curative therapies for both sickle cell disease and hemophilia. This year’s classical hematology spotlight sessions focus on helping hematologists determine the patients who are ideal candidates for these therapies.

Dr. Koreth: This year we offer attendees plenty of new and updated information. We continue to deliver sessions on lymphoma and myeloid malignancies. However, since these fields are advancing rapidly, there will be much new information within these topics. For example, as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has become more mainstream, this year’s CAR-T discussions are within the context of the specific disease, and the CAR-T session focuses on longer-term patient care issues after CAR-T therapies. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma has been a prior focus in the lymphoid space. This year we offer updates on other lymphoid entities, such as follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, and T-cell lymphomas. In the myeloid space, we offer a session focused on the biology and management of TP53 mutations and how to integrate acute myeloid leukemia mutations and measurable residual disease into patient care. Indeed, we aim to offer interesting perspectives and updates in all our upcoming presentations.

What can attendees expect to learn?

Dr. Naik: The goal is for everyone to learn something new and exciting about classical hematology! The wonderful thing about the annual meeting education sessions is that the talks are presented by up-and-coming and seasoned experts in their fields. You are guaranteed to pick up a new clinical pearl or treatment paradigm that you can integrate into your practice or research.

Dr. Koreth: I hope attendees can learn more about areas of primary clinical interest to them. I also hope they learn about rarer hematologic neoplasms or about a specific clinical context, such as therapy during pregnancy. We offer attendees a glimpse of the future and a framework for applying new developments to patient care.

What sessions do you want to attend?

Dr. Naik: All of them! Classical hematology is my passion, so I can’t wait to absorb as much information as possible.

Dr. Koreth: The fact that sessions are available in real life and virtually means I can attend all of them! I will probably try to catch up on everything, as recertification is coming soon!

What else would you like attendees to know about the program?

Dr. Naik: We know you will have many sessions to choose from at the ASH annual meeting. Please take advantage of the Education Program sessions this year in person or online. You won’t regret it!

Dr. Koreth: We’re very excited about the program. We have a high-caliber set of chairs and presenters, and we look forward to hearing their insights.