William Nicol, MBBS, is the inaugural international representative on the ASH Trainee Council. He is a joint clinical and laboratory hematology trainee at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Herston, Australia.
When I arrived at my first ASH annual meeting in 2023, I was prepared for many things: groundbreaking research presentations, innovative posters, and an education program that forms the cornerstone for continued learning in hematology around the world. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the sheer scale of the event that consumed the whole city, whether that be the conference check-in stations at the airport, the President’s Reception taking over entire blocks of San Diego, eating hot dogs at Petco Park for ASH-a-Palooza, or the 20-minute walk from one end of the convention center to the other to make sure I was in the session I’d chosen after hours of agonizing over my selection.
ASH-a-Palooza, with its fast pace and interactive format, was the perfect environment to get started. It allowed me to easily network with other trainees and collect helpful tips on how to make the most of the annual meeting experience. The event also reminds us that despite the differences in how hematology is practiced throughout the world, we were all there for the same reason — hoping to get the best out of ourselves and our training to become hematologists.
The rest of the annual meeting program provided endless opportunities to learn, and the evening poster sessions and poster walks highlighted the fact that there is always another way to approach a problem.
The inspiration and energy from the expected, but also the unexpected, has me excited for this year’s meeting. But there is another reason why #ASH24 is special to me — that fact that I am the inaugural international representative on the ASH Trainee Council. It’s one thing to be able to attend the ASH annual meeting, but it’s another thing to be able to help shape it. Through my new role, I have endeavored to provide the international trainee voice and perspective to planning for the annual meeting and to ASH initiatives more broadly.
While ASH is fundamentally a U.S.-based organization, it is impossible to ignore its significance on the world stage for practicing hematologists and researchers, as well as for trainees and students who rely on ASH for learning resources, training opportunities, and professional development. Ensuring that ASH is serving these members as well as possible is a key part of my role, and the commitment of ASH to this objective has led to the formation of the Global Health Working Group within the ASH Trainee Council. Together we are working toward projects within the Society that aim to enhance ASH education offerings in the international context, foster collaboration with international trainees and hematology societies, and provide increased support for international trainees at events such as the annual meeting.
Hopefully, our work will lead to even more rewarding experiences with ASH and the annual meeting for years to come.
