Andrew D. Zelenetz, MD, Chief, Lymphoma Service, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Associate Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, discusses the annual International Congress on Hematologic Malignancies, which focuses on leukemias, lymphomas, and myeloma and will take place February 23-26, 2012, in Snowbird, Utah.

Zelenetz, the chair of the conference, explains that the meeting is a long-standing conference that is on its 16th annual interval. The first 15 meetings were held in Whistler, Canada; the 16th installment was moved to the US for a variety of reasons, including the desire to make it easier to attend.

This conference arrives on the heels of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 53rd annual meeting and exposition. Zelenetz describes the ASH meeting as being focused on scientific discoveries and clinical trial data that are not ready for clinical use. In comparison the hematologic malignancies meeting focuses on state-of-the art treatment for practitioners. The meeting also contains workshops for academic physicians that will focus on pathways and mechanisms of action for new drugs that are still in the pipeline.

The majority of the program is geared towards clinicians but it is also applicable for nurses and offers a great opportunity for fellows. The congress is clinically oriented and equips attendees with the practical knowledge needed to improve the care of patients with leukemias, lymphomas, and myeloma across a broad spectrum of supportive care, transfusion practices, bone marrow transplant, and other relevant topics.

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