EHA Congress 15th Anniversary - European Hematology Association

newsletter 

the offi cial newsletter for members of the EHA 

May 2010 

EHA Newsletter Lugano May City 2007 by David > Starostka 

2

Contents 

President’s Message 1 

15 th Congress of EHA 2 – 3 

- EHA Jean Bernard 

Lifetime Achievement Award 2010 5 

- EHA-José Carreras Lecture 2010 4-5 

- New sessions 6 

- Hematology course for Pediatrics 6 

- EHA-ASH Joint Symposium 7 

- Molecular Hemopoiesis Workshop 8 

- Research Fellowship Winners 2010 9 

EHA Newsletter May 2010 

Report Lebanon Tutorial 10-11 

Medicine and Humanities 12 

Report H-Net meeting 13 

Report TRTH spring course 14-15 

4 th Focus in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology 16 

Wine and Health 17 

EHA Executive Office Staff 18 

Overview EHA Committees and Units 19 

Colophon 20

President’s Message 

EHA has taken upon itself the task of representing European hematology and hematologists in issues of legislation and 

policy making at a European level. Adapting to an ever changing environment, EHA is extending its spectrum of activities 

by incorporating outreach programs in its educational portfolio. In addition, EHA wishes to extend its network within 

Europe by broadening discussions with its Scientific Working Groups on, for example, facilitating research. EHA wants to 

continue to grow and develop, and provide services that are of genuine value to its increasing membership. 

> Europe 

In line with the strategic development of 

EHA – specifically its aim to be the official 

European representative of hematology 

and hematologists - several meetings 

have taken place. In December last year 

the first forum of European medical academic 

societies took place in Stockholm. 

The forum was organized by the European 

Association of the Study of Diabetes 

(EASD), the European Society of Cardiology 

(ESC), the European Cancer Organization 

(ECCO) and the European Respiratory 

Society (ERS). The purpose of this first 

meeting was to explore the possibility of 

creating one voice on joint areas of interest 

at a European level. It is clear to all 

parties that uniting and joining forces in 

working with the EU, and other political 

institutions, is of vital importance in influencing 

European research policies and in 

creating a budget accordingly. At the 

same time, efforts should also be directed 

towards the public in order to increase 

their understanding of the value of medical 

research. 

In January we met in London with the European 

Medicines Agency (EMA). The regulation 

of medicines is an important part 

of a broader effort in the society to promote 

health and wellbeing. It is fundamental 

that decisions about the authorization 

of medicines are based on an 

objective and scientific assessment of 

their quality, safety and efficacy. Conducting 

these assessments is the primary role 

of the EMA. The purpose of EHA’s meeting 

with EMA was to discuss possible collaborations. 

In December-January, EHA participated 

in the Clinical Trial Directive Impact Assessment 

organized by the European 

Union (EU). The Clinical Trials Directive 

(CTD) divulgated in 2001 is an EU directive 

that seeks to simplify and harmonize the 

administrative provisions governing clinical 

trials in the European Community by 

establishing clear and transparent proce- 

dures and at the same time aims at maintaining 

an appropriate level of protection 

for public health. The purpose of the assessment 

is to collect feedback on the 

practice of working with clinical trials and 

to adjust the CTD accordingly. 

Outside Europe 

The WHO has asked EHA, together with 

ASH and the Japanese Society of Hematology 

(JHS) to update the description and 

classification of hematological diseases 

for the next version of the International 

Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). 

EHA has established a fruitful relationship 

with the JSH. We attended their 71 st 

Annual Meeting in Kyoto last October 

and in Barcelona the 1 st joint EHA-JSH 

Symposium with speakers from Japan 

and Europe will take place. It was also 

decided to initiate short fellowships to 

foster scientific collaborations between 

Europe and Japan. 

In March, an EHA-ESH Type II Hematology 

Tutorial was organized that, for the 

first time in the history of tutorials, took 

place in the Middle East. This type of Tutorial 

was developed as part of EHA’s outreach 

program. Lectures, clinical cases 

and self-assessment test-cases were 

presented, partly utilizing cases avaiable 

on the EHATol online platform. One hundred 

participants – from Lebanon, Jordan, 

Syria, Iran Iraq, Kurdistan, the Gulf 

area, etc - attended this three day event. 

EHA is proud to take part in supporting 

advancements in the professional status 

of hematologists and in the quality of 

health care delivered to patients all over 

the world. 

Career development 

In March, the first Translational Research 

Training in Hematology (TRTH) course, 

organized together with ASH, also took 

place in Southern Spain. Through an appealing 

program, junior researchers from 

Europe, North America and Canada were 

Robin Foà 

presented with the tools beneficial for a 

successful career in hematology. The program 

focused on translational research, 

e.g. pathogenesis, diagnostics and experimental 

treatment of hematological disorders, 

and included specific scientific 

methodologies adapted to the needs of 

the participants, as well as more general 

subjects with relevance for planning and 

pursuing a project. The TRTH was made 

possible by the recently signed agreement 

with the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, 

which also contributed to the outreach 

event in Lebanon. 

Congress Anniversary 

This year the EHA Congress celebrates its 

15 th anniversary. Over the years the Congress 

has developed into a major event in 

hematology with over 7500 participants 

last year in Berlin. This year the number 

of submitted abstracts is 2175, a new record. 

The 15 th Congress will take place in 

the beautiful Spanish city of Barcelona. 

I hope to meet with you at one of our upcoming 

events. 

Robin Foà 

EHA President 

EHA Newsletter May 2010 > 1

2 > EHA Newsletter May 2010 

The 15 th Congress of the Eur 

This year the annual congress of the European Hem 

Over the years the EHA Congress has become a 

the specialty. This year the 15 th Congress of EHA 

The Scientific Program Comm ittee under the 

has again compiled an appealing program 

education sessions for scientists, clinic 

> An inspiring program of 

simultaneous oral and poster sessions 

has been selected from a record number 

of 2175 abstracts that were submitted. 

The six best abstracts will be presented 

during the Presidential Symposium on 

Saturday June 12. The EHA-ESH Joint 

Symposium on Friday June 11 focuses 

on communication with patients with 

Burkitt’s Lymphoma. In this interactive 

session both the difficulties for the 

clinician who must explain the need to 

commence treatment quickly and the 

perspective of patients are discussed. 

On Saturday June 12 the first Joint 

Symposium of the Japanese Society of 

Hematology (JSH) and EHA will be 

organized. The topic of this first combined 

symposium is a hematological disease 

that occurs relatively frequently in Japan 

compared to western European countries. 

On Saturday, a new session will take 

place. In collaboration with the European 

Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), the 

EHA has organized a patient advocacy 

session investigating the relationship 

between clinicians and patients. The 

session is designed to shed light on the 

different views regarding access to clinical 

trials. Key views that will be included 

are those from of the patient, the researcher/clinician, 

journalists, and the 

pharmaceutical industry. 

The seventh EHA-ASH Joint Symposium 

will focus on the delivery of healthcare in 

outreach countries. The well-established

opean Hematology Association 

atology Association celebrates its 15 th anniversary. 

meeting place for hematologists in all fields of 

will be held in Barcelona from June 10 - 13. 

inspiring leadership of Christine Chomienne 

with experts presenting state-of-the-art 

ians and hematologists in training. 

Molecular Hematopoiesis Workshop will 

be preceded by the Labatory Hematology 

Workshop. This new workshop will bring 

an extended focus on diagnostics into 

the program. 

The winner of the José Carreras – EHA 

Award of 2010 is Brunangelo Falini, who 

will present a lecture on Friday June 11. 

In the same session the winners of the 

EHA Fellowship program 2010 will be 

announced. The winner of the EHA Jean 

Bernard Lifetime Achievement Award 

2010 is Emili Montserrat for his lifetime 

contribution to the advancement of 

hematology. 

The Local Organizing Committee will 

take you to the Marques de Comillas 

on Saturday evening and offer you 

traditional Spanish music and dance. 

The venue is next to the Museu 

Marítim de Barcelona. This museum 

has built up a major group of 

collections that are illustrative of the 

illustrate Catalan seafaring culture. 

Visit the museum, meet old and new 

friends and try some of the typical 

Spanish food and drinks. 

We warmly welcome you to Barcelona 

and trust that this number one hematology 

congress in Europe will provide you 

with exciting interactions amongst your 

peers and stimulate new ideas for your 

work. 

Robin Foà Jesus San Miguel 

President EHA Congress President 2010 


Brunangelo Falini is selected for EHA 

José Carreras Lecture at 15th Congress 

The EHA Board has selected Brunangelo Falini MD for the José Carreras Lecture at the 15 th Congress in Barcelona. 

Brunangelo Falini is Professor of Hematology at the University of Perugia in Italy. His work on monoclonal antibodies has 

greatly advanced understanding of human lymphomas and led to his landmark discovery of NPM1 mutations in acute 

myeloid leukemia (AML). 

> Dr Falini’s research 

has focused mainly on 

developing monoclonal 

antibody (mAb) technology 

to study hematological 

malignancies. His team 

generated several mAbs 

against proteins encoded 

by genes that are involved 

in chromosomal translocations 

in human lymphomas 

and leukemias, 

including BCL6, MUM1/ 

IRF4, IRTA1, ALK, nucleophosmin 

(NPM1) and 

PML. These antibodies 

are currently used world- Brunangelo Falini 

wide for diagnosis and 

prognostic assessment of lymphomas, 

such as diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, 

Hodgkin lymphoma, marginal zone lymphoma 

and anaplastic large cell lymphoma 

(ALCL). His elegant studies in hairy 

cell leukemia (HCL) and ALCL are testimony 

to his success in translating information 

from molecular studies into easily 

applicable monoclonal antibody-based 

assays. Indeed, his group was the first to 

demonstrate that HCL displays a distinct 

gene expression profile and to identify 

Annexin A1 as specific immunohisto- 

EHA Congress 15 th Anniversary 

Dieter Hoelzer 

EHA President 2001 - 2003 


chemical marker for HCL. His mAbbased 

work on ALK and NPM1 proteins 

made a valuable contribution towards 

recognizing ALCL carrying ALK gene rearrangements, 

under the term of ALK+ 

ALCL, as a distinct disease entity in the 

2008 WHO classification of lymphoid 

neoplasms. 

Nucleophosmin expression is the key 

to the continuum in Dr Falini’s research 

that stretches from ALK+ ALCL 

to AML. After observing that in ALCL 

“It is an outstanding story that EHA, initiated by five scientists 

in the 90’s, has grown to now more than 7000 participants at 

their annual meeting. This reflects a need of European and 

worldwide hematologists; the acceptance of the scientific content, 

the education program and workshops of the EHA meetings. 

One of the major achievements was the creation of a new 

form of clinical study updates, reflecting the enormous activities 

in Europe.” 

with t(2;5), the presence 

of the NPM1-ALK 

fusion protein was associated 

with cytoplasmic, 

rather than nucleolar, 

nucleophosmin 

expression, he decided 

to use immunohistochemical 

detection of 

cytoplasmic nucleophosmin, 

as a simple, 

rapid test to screen for 

NPM1 gene alterations 

in a wide range of human 

malignancies. In 

2005 he discovered, aberrant 

nucleophosmin 

expression in the cytoplasm 

in about 30% of AML patients. 

He named this form of leukemia 

NPMc+ AML. NPM1 gene sequencing, 

in cooperation with Cristina Mecucci, 

revealed heterozygous mutations at 

exon-12 which are recognized today as 

the most frequent genetic lesions that 

have ever been identified in AML. 

Since then, Dr Falini’s group has concentrated 

on clarifying the molecular, biological 

and clinical characteristics of 

NPM1-mutated AML. Major achievements 

include: i) demonstrating its 

distinctive gene expression profile and 

unique microRNA signature, which 

strongly suggest the NPM1 mutation is a 

founder genetic lesion; ii) elucidating the 

molecular mechanisms underlying altered 

nucleophosmin transport; iii) developing 

a sensitive, specific immunohistochemical 

assay for predicting NPM1 

mutations (based on detecting nucleophosmin 

in cytoplasm); and iv) demonstrating 

(simultaneously with other 

groups) that the NPM1 mutation, in absence 

of FLT3-ITD, confers a favourable 

prognosis on AML patients. All this information 

led to NPM1-mutated AML being 

included as a provisional entity in the

2008 WHO classification of myeloid neoplasms. 

Dr Falini’s group continue to 

forge ahead with their studies into the 

biological and clinical significance of additional 

chromosomal aberrations in 

NPM1-mutated AML and its relationship 

with AML and myelodysplasia (MD)-related 

changes. 

Dr Falini’s work has had a profound impact 

on clinical practice. Analysis of 

NPM1 mutations is now part of the diagnostic/prognostic 

work-up of AML patients 

and it is regarded as a useful parameter 

for monitoring minimal residual 

disease in about one-third of AML patients. 

Furthermore, the study of leukemic 

NPM1 mutants has opened up a new 

area in leukemogenic mechanisms and 

may lead to the development of new targeted 

therapies in AML. 

EHA Jean Bernard Lifetime Achievement 

Award for Emili Montserrat 

Emili Montserrat will be the third recipient of the Jean Bernard Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented for the 

first time at the 13 th Annual Congress in Copenhagen. This award was established to honor outstanding physicians and 

scientists for their lifetime contribution to the advancement of hematology. 

> Dr Montserrat is Professor of Medicine at the Institute of 

Hematology and Oncology, Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona 

and Chairman of the European Research Initiative for CLL 

(ERIC). His main areas of interest are chronic lymphoproliferative 

disorders and lymphomas in which he and his group have 

made seminal contributions. Emili Montserrat is one of the 

founding members of the International Workshop on CLL 

(IWCLL) and the European Hematology Association (EHA). He 

is a member of the WHO Committee for Chronic Lymphoid 

Leukemias, co-chair of the WHO Clinical Advisory Committee 

for the Classification of Hematological Malignancies, Leukemia 

and Lymphoma Molecular Profiling Project (NCI) and International 

Oncogenome Consortium. 

Dr Montserrat is on the board of many journals in hematology 

and oncology and is a regularly invited key-speaker at meetings 

in hemato-oncology. He has received many awards, including 

the Lilly Award in Biomedicine, ESMO life-time 

Achievement Award, National Award in Oncology (Fundación 

Echevarne, Spain), Rai-Binet (IWCLL) Medal, and Distinguished 

Senior Investigator of the University of Barcelona. He is an 

honorary member of many Universities and scientific organizations. 

In the field of AML, Dr Falini’s contributions 

are not limited to his discovery of 

NPM1 mutations. His team’s efforts to 

develop mAbs as surrogates for molecular 

studies have improved treatment of 

other AML subtypes in developing countries. 

Indeed, in Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay 

use of his anti-PML (PG-M3) mAb 

for rapid immunocytochemical diagnosis 

of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) 

significantly improved outcomes. 

Dr Falini is co-signer of the REAL classification 

and made important contributions 

to the development of WHO classifications 

of lympho-hemopoietic tumors. 

Because of his achievements in the field 

of hematological malignancies, he is a 

highly-cited author. 

After finishing his medical school and 

specialization in Internal Medicine at the 

University of Perugia, Italy in 1988, he 

Emili Monserrat 

completed his research fellowships in 

the Department of Pathology, University 

of Southern California, Los Angeles and 

in the Department of Hematology, at the 

John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in the 

United Kingdom. Between 1989 and 

1990 he was visiting professor at the Department 

of Pathology at Free University 

of Berlin in Germany. 

He received his full professorship in hematology 

at the University of Perugia in 

2001 where he was head of the department 

of Clinical and Experimental Medicine 

since 2003 until 2006. He is the author 

of about 290 publications. Dr Falini's 

research activity was supported by the 

Italian Association for Cancer Research 

(AIRC). 


New at the 15 th Congress of EHA in Barcelona 

Laboratory Hematology Workshop: 

“From diagnosis to disease monitoring" 

> A substantial number of European 

and worldwide hematologists devote 

most or part of their time to the laboratory 

activities. These include not only the 

important diagnostic tests but also disease 

monitoring from hemato-oncology 

to blood coagulation. Moreover, innovation 

in this area of disease monitoring 

has been particularly impressive in recent 

years and has had a real impact on 

patient management. 

Tony Green the initiator of this new workshop: 

“The EHA Board considers that the 

lab work is critical for a comprehensive 

development of the speciality. The inter- 

> In collaboration with the European 

Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), EHA 

will organize a patient advocacy session 

at the 15 th Congress. This new 

session is designed to shed light on 

different views regarding access to 

clinical trials. 

Clinical trials are helping patients in 

action with the clinical hematology represents 

the only pathway to success. For 

these reasons a specific "Laboratory Hematology 

Work shop: from diagnosis to 

disease mo nitoring" will take place at the 

15 th Congress of EHA. The aim of this 

workshop is to bring together hematologists 

mainly involved in lab work with clinicians 

and to offer them a platform to 

discuss innovations in the field. The 

workshop includes three symposia each 

of one hour duration: 

1. Targeting chromosome and cancer. 

2. Cell based analysis: 

immunophenotyping tools and 

3. Future applicability of omic tools. 

Each of the symposia will include four 

speakers with short presentations and 

ample time for discussion. Topics such as 

FISH for classification of lymphoma or application 

of flow cytometry to hemostasis 

or SNP analysis for prognostication in leukemia 

will be discussed. 

We hope this will be the first step in one 

of the most important sessions of future 

EHA congresses.” 

Patient Advocacy Session: Access to Clinical Trials 

EHA-JSH Joint Symposium 

> In collaboration with the Japanese 

Society of Hematology (JSH) EHA organizes 

this Joint Symposium at the annual con- 


Bob Löwenberg 


their fight against cancer and are one 

of the key steps in the process of developing 

and improving treatment - 

and finding cures - for cancer. There 

are a huge number of novel cancer 

therapies in clinical trials today. Patients 

with resistant or recurrent disease 

often seek out these trials. This 

session will discuss access to trials, 

“The EHA congresses, from their start, set out to offer 

a successful educational program. This was the 

first challenge. The second was to organize a forum 

for scientific exchange that would span the broad 

spectrum of hematology, including coagulation, red 

cell disorders, hemato-oncology and various other 

areas. The third key challenge was to attract not 

only clinical but also experimental scientists working in hematology and presenting 

an innovative program with components of interest to investigators and clinicians 

alike. I am certain that the challenges of an all round and innovative experimental 

Hematology Congress continue to form the major goals of EHA today.” 


gress for the first time. Two lectures will be 

included in this special session; one is selected 

by JSH and the other by EHA. 

Friday June 11 

8:00 – 11:15 

and information, administrative challenges 

to initiate trials, as well as patient 

mobility across borders to participate 

in trials. 

Saturday June 12 

9:30 – 10:15 

During this symposium a hematological 

disease will be discussed with a 

relatively high incidence and prevalence 

in Japan compared to Western 

European countries and vice versa. 

On behalf of JSH Dr Toshiki Watanabe 

will speak about “Molecular pathogenesis 

of ATL”. Dr Herman Einsele represents 

EHA with his lecture “New treatments 

strategies for EBV-associated 

LPD as a model for immunotherapy of 

virus-associated/induced tumors”. The 

symposium is chaired by Yuzuru 

Kanakura President of JSH and Robin 

Foà President of EHA. 

Saturday June 12 

9:30 – 10:15

EHA-ESH Joint Symposium 

Conflicting priorities and collateral damage; 

an interactive session for hematologists 

The EHA-ESHJoint Symposium on Friday June 11 focuses on communication with Burkitt’s Lymphoma patients. In this 

interactive session both the difficulties for the clinician who must explain the need to commence treatment quickly and the 

point of view of patients are discussed. Advances in knowledge concerning the etiology and pathophysiology of hematological 

malignancies have enabled clinicians to design specific approaches to treatment for individual diseases. 

> For instance, the role of the Epstein-Barr 

Virus in the etiology of 

Burkitt’s Lymphoma was established 

many years ago but the more recent appreciation 

of the contribution of the Human 

Immunodeficiency Virus in increasing 

the incidence and worsening the 

prognosis, has resulted in changes to 

the management of these patients. 

A treatment approach from experienced 

clinicians which combines early administration 

of time and dose-intensive chemotherapy 

combined with HAART to address 

the HIV infection and delivered in a setting 

where there is rapid detection and treatment 

of infectious complications is required 

to achieve good results. 

A condition such as Burkitt’s 

Lymphoma will clearly be associated 

with considerable difficulties for 

clinician and patient. The clinician 

must convincingly explain the need to 


Emili Montserrat 



Willem Fibbe 


“From its beginning, the annual congress of EHA has been 

the most important parameter for the overall success of 

EHA. The number of participants, clinicians, scientists 

and young investigators are clear indicators of the success 

of the meeting. The institution of a Scientific Program 

Committee, through which the program became independent 

of the board, was a major achievement. In 

addition, the involvement of senior non-MD scientists has 

allowed EHA to further strengthen the program. This is 

reflected in new sessions such as the Molecular Hemopoiesis workshop, through 

which the meeting has become equally attractive for MDs and non MDs. The challenge 

for the future will be to maintain high quality in a program that covers Hematology 

from fundamental science to clinical practice.“ 

commence treatment quickly and - 

even in the absence of a clinical trial - 

clearly inform the patient of the risks 

“I am extremely honored to have been involved with EHA 

since the very beginning and to have served as its President. 

I was lucky to be involved with EHA during a period 

of change for the organization and with the growth of its 

annual congress and also the consolidation of Haematologica/The 

Hematology Journal as EHA journal. Looking 

back, I do believe that 15 years ago the EHA founders, 

and along with them many European hematologists, 

dreamt a dream, and that with hard work that dream became 

true!” 

of therapy and also the potential 

deleterious effects of any delay. Even 

in circumstances as unfavorable as 

this, patients may wish to adhere to 

their own agenda and delay to seek 

alternative opinions, complementary 

therapies or simply to attend to 

aspects of their private or professional 

lives which may prevent them from 

accepting the clinician’s view. 

A further complication for clinicians and 

patients may arise from the association 

of the HIV with this malignancy. Although 

a proportion of cases of Burkitt’s 

Lymphoma arise in patients in whom the 

diagnosis of HIV infection has already 

been made, in some patients diagnosis 

of the lymphoma is the presenting 

feature and the concurrent discovery of 

HIV involvement may be completely 

unexpected. 


Meet the Research Fellowship 2010 

Winners in Barcelona 

A substantial amount of EHA’s annual budget is reserved for the EHA Fellowship Program. The aim of the program is to 

promote European Hematological research and in particular to support junior basic and clinical researchers in the 

development of their careers. The Fellowship Program has been very successful over the last years. A great number of 

junior researchers have received awards since the start of the program in 2000 and this has resulted in an increased 

involvement of junior hematologists in EHA activities. The EHA Research Fellowship winners of 2010 will receive their 

award during the 15 th Congress of EHA in Barcelona. 

> The EHA Partner Fellowship. The 

EHA Partner Fellowship program provides 

seed grant funds to young investigators 

to promote their career development 

in new accession and EU candidate 

countries. The goal of this program is to 

set up inter-institutional networks of 

collaboration between centers of excellence 

in Western Europe and clinical research 

in hematology in new accession 

and EU candidate countries. 

Funding is for a maximum of three years 

at € 35,000 per year. One applicant is selected 

each year. This year, Dr Csaba 

Bödör from the 1 st Department of Pathology 

and Experimental Cancer Research 

of the Semmelweis University 

Budapest in Hungary, has been selected 

by the committee and will conduct his 

research project at the Institute of Cancer 

in London to work with Dr Jude 

Fitzgibbon. His research subject is 

Dr Ingmar Bruns 


Dr Csaba Bödör 

titled:”To Establish an Epigenetic Model of 

Follicular Lymphoma Pathogenesis”. 

The EHA-ASH Research Exchange 

Award is being offered in partnership 

with the American Society of Hematology 

(ASH) to provide hematologists in training 

or early in their careers the opportunity 

to conduct research in another 

country. The award amount is € 75.000 

for a maximum of two years and a minimum 

of ten months. 

Two winners were selected, both from 

Europe: Ingmar Bruns, MD, PhD, from 

the Heinrich-Heine University of Dusseldorf 

in Germany will work at the Department 

of Hematology and Medical Oncology, 

Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 

New York with Dr Paul Frenette and 

study “The role of orexin A and B neuropeptides 

for the regulation of hematopoietic 

stem and progenitor cells” 

The second winner, Mark Coyne, 

MB,BCh, BAO, MRCP, from the National 

University of Ireland, will work at the 

Mayo Clinic with Dr Leif Bergsagel, at 

the John Hopkins University with Dr Bill 

Matsui and at The Broad Institute with Dr 

Michael Reich, all in the United States. 

The title of Dr Coyne’s study is “Empowering 

Global Translational Hematology”. 

Dr Mark Coyne 

Effective April 1, 2010 the EHA Partner 

Fellowship and the EHA-ASH Exchange 

Award have been discontinued. 

Detailed information about the 

EHA Career Development Program 

containing research fellowships and 

the TRTH-Award can be found on the 

EHA website.

EHA – ASH 

Joint Symposium 

“Challenges 

and Opportunities 

in 

Hematology 

Oncology in 

developing 

countries” 

The American Society of Hematology 

(ASH) and EHA have successfully 

organized joint symposia since 2005. 

During their annual meetings 

respectively in December and June, 

relevant topics to all hematologists 

around the world are chosen and 

presented. The title of the EHA-ASH 

Joint Symposium at the 15th Congress of 

EHA in Barcelona is “Challenges and 

Opportunities in Hematology-Oncology 

in developing countries” 

Ian Magrath 

> Speaker is Ian Magrath, President of 

the International Network for Cancer 

Treatment and Research (INCTR) in Brussels, 

Belgium. During the last 35 years, he 

has established a program to improve 

treatment for patients with cancer in developing 

countries through the conduct of 

both clinical trials and basic research. One 

of the major achievements of these programs 

has been a doubling of the survival 

rates in children with acute lymphoblastic 

leukemia and NHL. 

Friday June 11 

8:00 – 11:15 

Molecular Hemopoiesis 

Workshop 

The Molecular Hemopoiesis Workshop will take place on Friday June 11, 2010 

from 14:15 – 17:30. 

> The format will be similar to previous 

years – brief talks on breaking stories 

from European and US group leaders 

working at the cutting edge of 

research - see list of speakers below. 

The workshop is aimed at those actively 

involved in laboratory research and the 

emphasis will continue to be on informality, 

so attendees can “dip in and out”. 

The workshop drew full rooms last year in Berlin. 

Sessions will be chaired by Tariq Enver, 

Dan Tenen and Ivo Touw and will focus 

on normal/leukemic stem cells, transcriptional 

regulation and signaling/ 

apoptosis. 

We hope to see you there. 

Tony Green 

Chair Title of session Names of speakers 

Tariq Enver Normal & Leukemic Stem Cells Norman Iscove 

Christoph Baum 

Sten-Erik Jacobsen 

Olivier Bernard 

Roger Patient 

Henk Stunnenberg 

Dan Tenen Transcription Heike Pahl 

Florian Kuchenbauer 

Thomas Graf 

Martina Pigazzi 

Ari Melnick 

Cris Lo Celso 

Ivo Touw Signaling/Apoptosis Rick van Etten 

K J Patel 

Simone Fulda 

Fey Rassool 

Jan Tavernier 

Hubert Serve 


Focus on Hemoglobinopathies and Leukemias 

EHA Outreach Program: 

Report first hematology tutorial in Middle East 

One of the main focuses of the EHA Education Program is outreach. The Type II Tutorial held recently in Lebanon is an example 

of EHA’s outreach program and is an initiative to complement the needs in hematology education and to emphasize important 

topics of benefit to hematologists in the Middle East. 

> In March 2010, the Type II Tutorial 

‘Diagnostic Work-Up of Hematological Malignancies, 

Focus on Leukemia and Hemoglobinopathies’ 

was held for the first time 

in the Middle East, in Lebanon. This educational 

activity was organized in collaboration 

with the Lebanese Society of Hematology. 

A hundred-and-four hematologists 

and laboratory physicians from eleven 

countries (see Table) participated in this 

EHA CME system accredited tutorial. 

The meeting spanned three full days 

during which ten different topics on sickle-cell 

disease, thalassemia, leukemias 

and myelodysplastic syndromes were 

covered. The first day commenced with 

welcome addresses from the regional 

chair, Adlette Inati, the President of EHA, 

Robin Foà, and the President of the Lebanese 

Society of Hematology (representing 

the Lebanese Minister of Health Dr 

Mohammad Jawad Khalife), Ali Taher. Dr 

Inati stressed the objectives of this Tutorial 

which are: firstly offering state-ofthe-art 

updates, evidence-based guidelines 

and advances in diagnostic and 

treatment modalities for hemoglobinop- 

Faculty and attendants of the Type II Tutorial in Lebanon 


athies and hematologicmalignancies, 

and secondly 

providing an ideal 

forum for close 

scientific interaction 

between faculty 

and participants. 

Dr Taher 

conveyed the wishes 

of Minister 

Khalife to make 

this event successful 

and emphasized 

the importance 

of Lebanon as a referral 

medical center in the region. He also 

talked about the optimal care offered by 

the Lebanese Ministry of Health for patients 

with thalassemia. Both Drs Inati 

and Taher underscored the importance 

of conducting this Tutorial in Lebanon 

and the pride they felt in organizing such 

an important meeting in collaboration 

with EHA and ESH. Dr Foà also expressed 

their feelings in organizing this 

event and initiating an academic collaboration 

with the Lebanese Society of He- 

Nassim Khoriaty, Robin Foà, Ali Taher, Adlette Inati and Gina Zini 

matology. After explaining the logistics 

of type II Tutorials, he highlighted the 

wish of EHA to expand such educational 

programs to different countries in and 

outside Europe. 

The standard format of the Tutorial, as all 

type II Tutorials, is based on a lecture, two 

tutored clinical cases and self-evaluation 

cases with voting box systems all delivered 

by each faculty member. Each topic lasted 

at least three hours and was thoroughly 

reviewed. At the end, the answers to the 

questions given in the self-evaluation sessions 

were extensively discussed. 

The scientific program started with a 

lecture on ‘Successes and challenges in 

thalassemias’ by Maria Cappellini of the 

University of Milan, Italy. The next speaker 

was Ali Taher from the American University 

of Beirut and his presentation focused 

on ‘Thalassemia intermedia’. This 

was followed by a lecture by Adlette Inati 

from Rafik Hariri University Hospital, 

Beirut on ‘Sickle cell disease: current 

understanding and management’ and 

another one on ‘Blood transfusions in 

sickle cell disease’ by Mariane De Montalembert 

from Hôpital Necker Enfants 

Malades Paris, France.

The first lecture on the second day given 

by John Porter from the University College 

in London, United Kingdom, was on 

‘Iron overload across different hemoglobinopathies’. 

Barbara Bain from St Mary’s 

Hospital London, United Kingdom followed 

with a presentation on ‘Diagnostic 

tools in leukemias’. The next topic was 

‘Leukemias in children and adolescents’ 

presented by Stephen Sallan of the Dana-Farber 

Cancer Institute in Boston, 

United States. The second day finished 

with a lecture on ‘Adult acute leukemias’ 

presented by Robin Foà from the “Sapienza” 

University of Rome, Italy. 

Day 3 started with a lecture on ‘New approaches 

in the management of CML 

therapy’ by Giuseppe Saglio from the 

University of Turin, Italy. The final speaker 

in this Tutorial was the chair of the 

EHATol Unit Gina Zini from the Catholic 

University in Rome, Italy. She gave a presentation 

on ‘WHO classification of MDS 

and MPN’s’. The meeting ended with the 

statistical evaluation and final remarks 

by Adlette Inati and Robin Foà. 

The scientific program was versatile and, 

Country of origin and number 

of attendees 

Lebanon 30 

Iraq 21 

Gulf 14 

Saudi Arabia 10 

Syria 9 

Jordan 9 

Iran 4 

Portugal 3 

Kuwait 2 

Sweden 1 

Germany 1 

for the first time, covered topics of high 

prevalence in the region (hemoglobinopathies). 

The participants were highly interactive 

and showed interest in the variety 

of topics which were addressed. They 

expressed their positive feelings and 

gratitude for organizing such an important 

meeting in the Middle East. The 

evaluation sessions were the most exciting 

parts of the meeting. 

Along with the scientific program, the 

participants and faculty members had a 

chance to enjoy the beautiful views of 

European Hematology Association 

EHA-ESH Hematology 

Tutorials 2010 

June 25-27, 2010 - Istanbul, Turkey 

Type II Hematology Tutorial: Diagnostic 

Work-Up of Hematological Malignancies 

FOCUS ON MYELOID MALIGNANCIES 

Chairs: M Arat, G Zini, R Foà 

November 5-7, 2010 – Cascais, Portugal 

Type I Hematology Tutorial: Diagnostic Work-Up of Hematological Malignancies 

FOCUS ON ACUTE MALIGNANCIES 

Chairs: W Erber, G Zini, B Bain, R Foà 

For further information please visit: www.ehaweb.org - www.esh.org 

European School of Haematology 

Beirut from the 31 st floor of the Habtoor 

Hotel during the gala dinner organized 

on Saturday. During this dinner, a brief 

speech was delivered by the President of 

the Order of Physicians of Lebanon, Dr 

Nassim Khoriaty who congratulated the 

Tutorial organizers for this landmark 

edu cational activity and distributed 

medals of appreciation to all speakers 

This Tutorial was made possible by an 

unrestricted grant from Novartis Oncology 

pharmaceutical (Beirut). Two nonprofit 

organizations contributed to this 

activity: the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation 

and the George N. Khoriaty Foundation. 

The next Type II Tutorial, focusing on myeloid 

malignancies, will take place in Istanbul, 

Turkey, June 25-27, 2010, while 

the next Type I Tutorial on acute malignancies 

is scheduled for November 5-7, 

2010 in Cascais, Portugal. 

We hope to meet you again in one of the 

forthcoming Tutorials. 

Robin Foà Adlette Inati 

President EHA Regional Chair, Lebanon

Medicine and Humanities 

In early years Medicine and Philosophy were inseparable. This close relationship remained for 

thousands of years. It was in the age of Enlightenment in the seventeenth century that empiricism 

began to hold sway. Even though the early empiricists were often medical practitioners the idea that 

medicine and philosophy could exist together began to fade and the two disciplines drifted apart. One 

can easily substitute the word humanities for philosophy and regret the parting of the ways. 

> The drive for scientific investigation 

gathered momentum until eventually the 

public perception in many countries was 

that doctors no longer practised humane 

medicine. Many critics complain that 

doctors now treat diseases and not patients 

and those doctors consider themselves 

as scientists. Doctors are not, and 

hopefully never will be scientists, but 

they frequently rely on scientific methods. 

There is no doubt that scientific advances 

have contributed to the successful 

treatment of many diseases and that 

molecular biology has deepened our understanding 

of disease mechanisms. 

However chronic illness is now a major 

concern of doctors and the community 

and common cancers such as bowel, 

breast and lung continue to pose major 

medical problems. 

‘The good physician treats the disease: the 

great physician treats the patient with the 

disease’. Sir William Osler. 

Is the complaint that doctors no longer 

listen to patients valid? Is the complaint 

that doctors now treat illness and not 

patients upheld by experience? I think 

the answer is yes but there are many 

contributing factors. The desire for instant 

intervention and a guaranteed outcome 

are becoming the norm in society 

and obstetrical care seems to be a good 

example. In general patients seem to be 


divided into two groups, one of 

which requires medical intervention 

for the most trivial complaint 

and the second which eschews all 

medical care until symptoms become 

overwhelming: ‘The desire to 

take medicine is perhaps the greatest 

feature that distinguishes man from 

animals’ Sir William Osler. 

Sir David Weatherall is known to most 

hematologists for his brilliant research 

into the haemoglobinopathies 

and particularly for his outstanding 

textbook on the Thalassaemic syndromes. 

In 1994 he wrote an editorial 

‘The inhumanity of medicine’ in response 

to a number of letters in the 

British Medical Journal reflecting the 

public’s annoyance at being treated 

so rudely and callously. Sir David 

looks at some of the reasons why 

bright, young medical students might 

end up being callous and rude to patients. 

Perhaps the new restricted 

hours and ‘shift’ system that doctors 

work together with more demanding 

patients and ‘an overcharged atmosphere’ 

in teaching hospitals contribute 

to this behaviour. He stresses 

however that teaching the social sciences 

will not solve the problem. 

If we accept the criticism that the 

practise of medicine has become less 

humane what can 

be done about it? 

Can we train medical 

students in a 

different way? Is 

the manner in 

which doctors 

practise medicine 

merely a reflection 

of our modern 

society? If we try 

to change medical 

education and are 

successful will it 

have a long-lasting 

effect on doc- 

Shaun McCann 

tor’s behaviour? Many Medical Schools 

in the USA and Europe have now accepted 

that something needs to be done. The 

introduction of student selected modules, 

in the humanities, early in medical 

education has been tried by a number of 

Schools. Modules vary from perception 

to history, philosophy and literature 

among others. Most medical curricula 

also include clinical skills teaching early 

in the course and communication is usually 

incorporated into this module. It 

would seem axiomatic that these approaches 

are worthy and their shortterm 

effect can be measured. It is much 

more difficult to evaluate whether these 

interventions will have a long-term effect 

and influence the behaviour of doctors. 

My view is that doctors must be knowledgeable 

and make the correct diagnosis 

but treat patients in a humane way. 

There are many disparate forces at work 

during a doctor’s education and in early 

years of practise. As medicine is still a 

form of apprenticeship I believe that 

young doctors will only alter their behaviour 

if they see their teachers treating 

patients humanely during daily practise. 

A large amount of the positive influence 

in the first few years can be rapidly undone 

by cynical and inhumane teachers. 

When teaching medical students I have 

always said ‘it is much more enjoyable to 

be a doctor than a patient. Patients are often 

frightened and vulnerable. Make sure 

you always treat them humanely’. 

Shaun McCann 

Hematologist and Professor of Academic 

Medicine: Director of Teaching and Learning 

(Undergraduate). Trinity College, Dublin. 

D J Weatherall. The inhumanity of medicine. 

BMJ 1994; 309:1671 – 1672. 

The opinions expressed are those of the Editor 

and not necessarily those of the Board of the 

EHA.

The First HNet Policy Conference: 

Learning to Speak the Same Language 

> But the main reason 

for the location was its proximity 

to the European Union 

headquarters. For the occasion 

we invited not only the 

presidents of the twenty-two 

national societies that are 

partner in the project to be 

presented with the progress 

their representatives have 

achieved so far; we also invited 

a representative of the 

European Commission to 

speak and hear us out. 

João Delgado is the Head of 

Unit of the Leonardo Da Vinci 

instrument of the Lifelong 

Learning Programme of the 

Directorate General of Education 

and Culture. It is from 

this unit we have received 

the grant that H-Net is 

mostly financed with. Mr. 

Delgado pointed out in his key-note address 

that while education is a national 

policy area, the European Commission 

values and stimulates the exchange of 

information between countries on the 

skills and competences that different 

educational systems deliver. So regardless 

of the actual educational set-up, it 

is important that learning outcomes are 

identified in a comparative manner. 

Thus, educators and education policy 

makers all across Europe can “speak the 

same language”, as Mr. Delgado put it. 

This is exactly what H-Net is doing. Actually, 

H-Net is one step ahead. In her presentation 

Eva Hellström-Lindberg 

HEMATOLOGY 

NET 

The city of Brussels provokes images of chocolate, beer and an atom, 165 billion times its normal size. Between quotation 

marks, “Brussels” provokes a completely different set of ideas. Depending on your political views it can denote the end to a 

war-torn Europe, a lot of red tape, or a multitude of farmers blocking traffic with tractors. The latter is not the reason we 

finally decided to have the First Policy Conference of H-Net (the EU funded project ‘European Network for Harmonization of 

Training in Hematology’) in Leuven, a beautiful medieval university town some twenty kilometers from the European capital. 

Rather, it has become somewhat of a tradition to have the meetings of H-Net in an austere environment where reflection goes 

hand in hand with hard work. In Leuven the meeting took place in the Grand Beguinage. 

The Antomium in Brussels 

showed the preliminary results of the H- 

Net competence survey. This is a survey 

of recently specialized hematologists who 

are asked to indicate their competence 

levels on all aspects of the specialty of 

hematology. The survey thus produces an 

overview of the learning outcomes by 

country, which, as can be expected, differ 

widely. What’s more, H-Net also develops 

tools to facilitate addressing found outcome 

differences. The Master Class is 

one such tool that was presented by 

Cheng-Hock Toh. Kicking off at EHA Annual 

Congress in June, the Master Class 

is a decidedly European educational endeavor 

that mostly uses online – so cheap 

– meetings to prepare junior hematolo- 

gists to independently meet 

the challenges they will face 

in actual practice. Ambjörn 

Naeve presented another educational 

tool, the Hematology 

Confolio, that serves as an 

online repository of educational 

opportunities that can 

be matched with personal 

competence gaps. 

The First H-Net Policy Conference 

yielded some interesting 

results. H-Net is rest 

assured that both the European 

Commission and the 

national societies of hematology 

are well informed on 

the progress of the project 

and favor the direction it is 

heading. In March of 2011 

the Second H-Net Policy 

Conference is scheduled. 

Again, in (or near) Brussels. 

This time, a wider audience will be 

sought. Beside representation from the 

European Union, we would like to invite 

policy makers from national authorities 

to discuss the outcomes of the survey 

and the educational tools we develop. In 

this way, we may contribute, albeit in a 

small way, to raise awareness among 

those responsible for the hematological 

curriculum of the educational needs of 

hematologists. 


H-Net project leader 

More information on H-Net can be found on 

www.hematologynet.eu 


Inaugural Spring Course 

of TRTH 

Forty hematologists from both sides of the Atlantic called Villa Padierna in the South of Spain home for one 

whole week during the exciting inaugural spring course of Translational Research Training in Hematology (TRTH). 

In 2008 the European Hematology Association (EHA) and American Society of Hematology (ASH) started their 

collaboration on this new program that was launched at the 14 th Congress of EHA in Berlin June 2009. From 44 

applications received, 20 translational research projects were selected by the Study Section of the program, 

composed of members from EHA and ASH. 

> Twenty key note speaker hematologists 

and researchers were willing 

to share their precious experience with 

the new generation researchers. In 

small working groups and through didactic 

sessions renowned hematologists 

and scientists started training 

and guiding the award winners to take 

their research projects to a higher level. 

Although this was the first time 

the group met, faculty and trainees 

easily bonded and interacted in an informal 

manner. 

This prestigious project has been made 

possible by the generous support of 

Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. Mara 

Neal, Director Research Awards of the 

Wallace H. Coulter Foundation elaborated 

on the legacy of Wallace Coulter, 

The new generation researchers in hematology 



John Goldman 


who was not only an inventor and entrepreneur 

but also a visionary and engineer. 

This versatile talented man 

“When the notion of a European Hematology Association was 

first suggested in 1992, there were a lot of skeptics who doubted 

the need and predicted it could not succeed. Fortunately 

they turned out to be completely wrong. The steadily increasing 

number of participants at each annual meeting and the 

rapid development of basic and clinical aspects of hematology 

now make me wonder how we could ever have managed without 

it. The future of EHA for at least some decades is unquestionably 

assured.” 

founded the Coulter Corporation, a 

global diagnostics company where he 

invented and produced the Coulter 

Counter, the first high-throughput, 

standardized method to count and size 

cells and particles as they flow through 

an aperture. Mr. Coulter’s deepest passion 

was to improve health care and 

make these improvements available 

and affordable to everyone. He dedicated 

his wealth to continuing to improve 

health care through medical research 

and engineering. The Foundation that 

started in December 1999 will continue 

this legacy by funding translational research 

in biomedical engineering such 

as TRTH with the goal of accelerating 

the introduction of new technologies 

into patient care. 

In the training not only hematological 

issues were addressed, but also general 

topics such as how to give a presentation, 

ethical issues and how to 

ask a research question. In three dinner 

sessions the respective co-direc-

tors Willem Fibbe and Kenneth 

Kaushansky, as well as co-chairs Eva 

Hellström-Lindberg and Linda Burns 

spoke about the way they started their 

career in hematology. The participants 

got a peek into the private lives of 

these well respected leaders of the 

course. In small working groups 5 

trainees and 3 core faculty members 

discussed the research projects per 

general topic Myeloid molecular, SCT 

and immunotherapy, Lymphoid molecular 

and Novel therapeutics. 

In the following months the established 

groups will further build on their 

network and research projects. 

Mentors will be advising trainees on 

how to select the most interesting 

sessions from the broad programs 

presented at the 15 th Congress of EHA 




Faculty and participants of the first Translational Research Training in Hematology 

and the 53 rd Annual Meeting of ASH in 

December. During these two major 

hematology events in June and 

Job Postings on EHA website 

“The development of EHA congress mirrors the development 

of the organization as a whole. The congress has over 

the past years grown more professional, larger, and broader, 

with a clear increase of in scientific and educational 

quality. The content has expanded to include basic science, 

as reflected by the very popular “Molecular hemopoiesis 

workshop”, and clinical science with clinical trial sessions 

and a well developed scientific working group program. 

The congress is also widely distributed within and outside 

Europe through the web and podcasts.” 

A new service for EHA members has been developed, a job posting section on the EHA website. 

December follow-up meetings of TRTH 

will take place. 

In this section vacancies can be posted meant for hematologists and those working in related disciplines. 

For regulations and current vacancies please visit: http://www.ehaweb.org/Membership/Job-Postings 


4 th Focus in Pediatric HematologyOncology 

A very successful 4 th ‘Focus in Pediatric 

Haematology-Oncology’ course was held 

from April 7 to10 in Sorrento in a small, 

friendly hotel with excellent facilities on 

the edge of the beautiful southern end of 

the Bay of Naples. The course, which is 

particularly aimed at specialist trainees 

in pediatric hemato-oncology, continued 

the same ethos which inspired the first 

three courses: the importance of close 

interactions between the participants 

and the teaching faculty, a strong emphasis 

on real cases and the scientific basis 

of disease and its treatment. 

> In this 4 th course there were forty 

participants from over fifteen countries 

and the course was designed and led by 

Professors Andrea Biondi (Monza), Irene 

Roberts (London), Karl Welte (Hannover) 

and André Baruchel (Paris). The invited 

faculty this year included M Ballmaier 

(G), P Bolton-Maggs (UK), MT Daniel (F), 

P Darbyshire (UK), J de la Fuente (UK), R 

Handgreitner (G), A Iolascon (I), S Izraeli 

(Is), GJL Kaspers (NL), C Klein (G), T Leblanc 

(F), R Pieters (N), K Schmiegelow 

(N), J Schwaller (CH) and C Zeidler (G). 

The principal topics covered were 

acute leukemia, myelodysplasia, bone 

marrow failure, hematopoietic stem 

cell transplantation, red cell disorders 

and consultative pediatric hematology, 

including diagnostic morphology, co- 

EHA Membership 

If you recognize the need for a strong European Hematology Association and would like to take advantage of the 

various activities of the Association, you may wish to become a member of the EHA and contribute to its objectives. 

Benefits of EHA Membership 

− Subscription to Haematologica/ The Hematology Journal, including on-line access 

− Reduced registration fee for the EHA Annual Congresses 

− Eligible to the EHA Fellowship Program 

− Eligible to apply for the EHA-ASH Translational Research Training in Hematology 

(TRTH) Award 

− EHA Newsletter 

− EHA E-bulletin 

− Access to jobposting section 

− Access to EHA membership database 

− Access to webcast sessions of the EHA Annual Congress 

www.ehaweb.org 


Participants of the course in pediatric hemato-oncology in Sorrento, Italy 

agulation and neonatal hematology. In 

addition, there were compelling guest 

seminars by leaders in the field: Christoph 

Klein ‘Aberrant signaling pathways 

in congenital neutropenias’, Shai 

Izraeli ‘Congenital diseases and leukaemia: 

clues to pathogenesis?’ and A 

Iolascon ‘Molecular genetics of Congenital 

Dyserythropoietic Anaemia’. 

Furthermore, a unique and popular 

aspect of the course was the daily tutorial 

in hematological morphology, 

directed by Marie-Therèse Daniel, 

round the microscope. 

The emphasis of this course is on problem-solving 

using real clinical cases and 

linking basic science to the clinic. An additional 

important objective of the course 

has always been to create a friendly and 

informal atmosphere to encourage exchange 

of scientific ideas for ongoing 

and future projects between the participants 

themselves and faculty members. 

Indeed these courses continue to lead to 

exchanges of trainees (and their families!) 

between countries to experience 

training and research in pediatric hematology 

in diverse environments and ultimately, 

we hope, to benefit the patients 

we care for. 

Andrea Biondi, Irene Roberts, 

Karl Welte and André Baruchel 

The 4 th Focus in Pediatric Hematology- 

Oncology Course was realized with an 

unrestricted grant from EHA

Wine and Health 

> ‘It’s a naïve domestic Burgundy, 

without any breeding, but I think you’ll 

be amused by its presumption’. James 

Thurber, American humourist. 

Chateau Moncontour an inexpensive and beautiful 

sparkling wine from Chenin Blanc grapes. 

Although wine drinking is a very 

pleasurable experience there is no doubt 

that a lot of people write and talk rubbish 

when discussing it. Apparently it can be 

quite off-putting to females at dinner 

parties according to Jonathan Nossiter 

in his new book, Liquid Memory: why 

wine matters’, when sitting beside a lady 

who said: ‘Men who speak about wine at 

table are instantly condemned…. 

Conversation about wine is anonymous. 

A man isn’t speaking to me when he 

speaks about wine. He’s trying to prove 

something to me, but it has nothing to do 

with conversation. I think to myself: he’s 

a little macho shit trying to show off his 

power. Talking about wine is unbearably 

mediocre’. Well I must remember never 

to try chatting up females sitting beside 

me at dinner parties by talking about 

wine! 

Certainly the weather has been unseasonably 

cold with lots of snow all over 

Europe. Yes it has been great weather 

for skiers but you will be glad to hear 

that vines also like snow. It melts slowly 

and the water sinks deeply into the 

ground. The vines will stretch their roots 

to fi nd the water in dryer times and this 

produces excellent grapes. Harsh winters 

also tend to kill off pests which is 

helpful at harvest time. The vintage of 

2009 was excellent in Tuscany and nearly 

all of France. Things are complicated in 

Australia with drought and bush fi res so 

predictions for the 2009 vintage are not 

yet clear. One thing is clear however, 

Australia produces too much wine. Supply 

exceeds demand by 20%. The forecast 

is for surpluses of 100 million cases 

of wine which will harm the reputation of 

Australian wine and certainly undermine 

profi tability. After a year of nearly perfect 

weather, wine growers in all 13 German 

wine-growing regions are extremely 

pleased with the quality of the 2009 crop. 

‘This year will go down as a truly great 

vintage’ predicted Norbert Weber, President 

of the German wine-growers association. 

There is good news from a cardiovascular 

point of view for Champagne drinkers. 

A study from the University of Reading 

found that drinking moderate 

amounts of Champagne was associated 

with increased levels of Nitric Oxide (NO) 

and improved arterial function when 

compared with controls. The investigators 

claimed that this was because 

Champagne is made from a mixture of 

red (Pinot Noir) and white (Chardonnay) 

grapes and therefore may convey the 

benefi ts of drinking red wine. Of course 

some Champagne is made from Chardonnay 

only (blancs de blancs) or from 

Pinot Noir exclusively (blancs de noirs) 

and I don’t know if drinkers of these 

were used as controls. In the meantime 

keep up a moderate consumption of 

whatever type of Champagne you can afford. 

There are lots of other sparkling wines 

made from grapes other than chardonnay 

and pinot noir. These wines are usually 

much cheaper and many like 

Prosecco maintain their low price because 

secondary fermentation takes 

place in the tank and not in the bottle. 

The Cava wine from Catalonia is well 

known but the sparkling wines from the 

Loire are not so popular. See if you can 

get your hands (or lips) on some. These 

wines are made from Chenin Blanc 

grapes and a particularly good bargain is 

Chateau Moncontour. This is a beautiful 

dry wine and costs less than half the 

price of most Champagnes. 

Yeasts on the skin of grapes interacting 

with the sugar inside make wine. The 

eternal discussion has been between using 

naturally occurring yeasts or cloned 

yeasts. Those who favour cloned yeasts 

claim that they are more reliable and always 

work. Those who use natural 

yeasts say that the special fl avour of 

their wines in partly due to the use of 

natural yeasts. Wild yeasts tend to be indigenous 

to certain regions and although 

I have never done a study I always favour 

wines made from the naturally occurring 

fungi. 

Yeasts on the skin interact with sugar to make wine. 

Are natural or cloned yeasts the best? 

Our American friends love numbers and 

classifi cations and apply them to wine. 

The Wine Spectator classifi cation gives 

10 th place in the world to La Brancaia 

Toscana Tre 2007 for about 13 euro. I 

thoroughly agree with this as I have 

consumed many bottles of this beautiful 

and inexpensive wine. I warmly recommend 

it. 

Ciao for Giovanni 

Giovanni Morelli is a Hematologist who shares 

his time between Ireland and Tuscany. 


EHA Executive Office 

Carin Smand 

Managing Director 

Liz Stokes 

Assistant to 

Managing Director 

Rik Craenmehr 

Annual Congress 

Nina Straathof 

Membership 

Assistant 

Jos Verveer 

Bookkeeping 

Assistant 


Ans Steuten 

Executive 

Management 

Ineke van der Beek 

Communication & 

Press 

Victoria Zhuravleva 

Education & 

Training 

Anna Molinari 

Education Assistant 

Susan Nijsingh 

CME Assistant 

Petra Stork 

Communication & 

Press 

Thom 

Duyvené de Wit 

Public Affairs 

Djowrain Bouterse 

Office Manager 

Yim Cheong 

Membership 

Assistant 

Contact Information 

EHA Executive Office 

Koninginnegracht 12b 

2514 AA The Hague 

The Netherlands 

Phone +31 (0)70 302 00 99 

Fax: +31(0)70 392 36 63 

E-mail: info@ehaweb.org 

Website: www.ehaweb.org

Members of EHA Committees and Units 

EHA CME Unit 

A Prentice, United Kingdom (Chair) 

F Lo Coco, Italy 

D Loukopoulos, Greece 

J Musial, Poland 

A Parreira, Portugal 

M Udvardy, Hungary 

EHA Corporate Sponsor Committee 

J Sierra, Spain (Chair) 

H Döhner, Germany 

I Touw, The Netherlands 

A Falanga, Italy 

EHA Curriculum Committee 

E Hellström-Lindberg, Sweden (Chair) 

L Degos, France (Co-chair) 

C-H Toh, United Kingdom 

W-D Ludwig, Germany 

P Rebulla, Italy 

EHA Communication Committee 

C Chomienne, France (Chair) 

M Guenova, Bulgaria 

A Hagenbeek, The Netherlands 

C Lacombe, France 

S McCann, Ireland 

EHA Education Committee 

F Lo Coco, Italy (Chair) 

M Arat, Turkey 

C Chomienne, France 

C Craddock, United Kingdom 

W Fibbe, The Netherlands 

R Foà, Italy 

E Hellström-Lindberg, Sweden 

D Jasmin, France 

A Prentice, United Kingdom 

H Serve, Germany 

J Sierra, Spain 

G Zini, Italy 

EHA Fellowships and Grants 

Selection Committee 

C Camaschella, Italy (Chair) 

T Green, United Kingdom 



Ad-hoc Members: 

C Beaumont, France 

E Berntorp, Sweden 

D Campana, USA 

E Braakman, The Netherlands 

E Campo, Spain 

M Dreyling, Germany 

A Falanga, Italy 

J Falkenburg, The Netherlands 

P Ghia, Italy 

M Greaves, United Kingdom 

J Gribben, United Kingdom 

R Kueppers, Germany 

C Lacombe, France 

M von Lindern, The Netherlands 

F Lo Coco, Italy 

P Ljungman, Sweden 

A Hochhaus, Germany 

H Lokhorst, The Netherlands 

E Macintyre, France 

C Mecucci, Italy 

H Merle-Beral, France 

L Malcovaty, Italy 

A Migliaccio, Italy 

C Nervi, Italy 

J Passweg, Switserland 


P Sonneveld, The Netherlands 

D Steensma, USA 

M Theobald, Germany 

E Terpos, Greece 

A Vannucchi, Italy 

EHA Governance Committee 

C Lacombe, France (Chair) 

C Camaschella, Italy 

W Fibbe, The Netherlands 

A Prentice, United Kingdom 

EHA Local Organizing Committee 

15 th Congress 

J San Miguel, Spain (Congress President) 

A Borkhardt, Germany 


J Bladé, Spain 

EHA Membership Committee 

I Touw, The Netherlands (Chair) 


M Guenova, Bulgaria 

B Huntly, United Kingdom 

EHA Nomination Committee 

A Biondi, Italy (Chair) 

M Björkholm, Sweden 

B Löwenberg, The Netherlands 

I Roberts, United Kingdom 

A Urbano-Ispizua, Spain 

EHA Public Affairs Committee 

U Jäger, Austria (Chair) 


H Döhner, Germany 

R Foà, Italy 

R Skoda, Switzerland 

EHA Scientific Program Committee 

15 th Congress (SPC) 

C Chomienne, France (Chair) 

R Skoda, Switzerland 


M Björkholm, Sweden 

J Cools, Belgium 

C Craddock, United Kingdom 

P Ghia, Italy 

L Malcovati, Italy 

I Peake, United Kingdom 

F Rosendaal, The Netherlands 

A Rosenwald, Germany 

J San Miguel, Spain (Congress President) 

S Lay Thein, United Kingdom 

EHA Scientific Program Committee 

– Advisory Board 15 th Congress 

M Arat, Turkey 

N Avent, United Kingdom 

M Baccarani, Italy 

A Baruchel, France 

D Caballero, Spain 

J Yves Cahn, France 

C Camaschella, Italy 

C Gachet, Italy 

G Gaidano, Italy 

P Hillmen, United Kingdom 

B Huntly, United Kingdom 

M Jarosova, Czech Republic 

M Manz, Switzerland 

P Rousselot, France 

K Schmiegelow, Denmark 

H Servé, Germany 

A Trumpp, Germany 

A Urbano Ispizua, Spain 

E van der Schoot, The Netherlands 

A Vannuchi, Italy 

P Vyas, United Kingdom 

A Waage, Norway 

R Willemze, The Netherlands 

P Luigi Zinzani, Italy 

EHATol Unit 

G Zini, Italy (Chair) 

B Bain, United Kingdom 

W Erber, United Kingdom (Chair elect) 

M Rozman, Spain 

M van ‘t Veer, The Netherlands 

EHA SWG Unit 

U Jäger, Austria (Chair) 


C Chomienne, France 


Present members 

of the EHA Board 

Robin Foà – President 2009-2011 – Italy 

Ulrich Jäger – President Elect 2009-2011 – Austria 

Willem Fibbe – Past President 2009-2011 – The Netherlands 

Hartmut Döhner – Treasurer 2007-2011 – Germany 

Radek Skoda – Secretary 2009-2012 – Switzerland 

Councilors 

Arndt Borkhardt – 2009-2013 – Germany 

Clara Camaschella – 2007-2011 – Italy 

Christine Chomienne – 2007-2011 – France 

Anna Falanga – 2009-2013 – Italy 

Tony Green – 2009-2013 – United Kingdom 

Jorge Sierra – 2008-2012 – Spain 

Ivo Touw – 2006-2010 – The Netherlands 

Colophon 

The EHA Newsletter is published twice a year by the European Hematology 

Association. Membership of the European Hematology Association includes 

subscription to the Newsletter. 

Editors 

Editor-in-Chief Shaun McCann 

Editor Catherine Lacombe 

Editorial Coordination Petra Stork 

Photography & Illustrations 

Cover David Starostka 

Havirov Hospital 

Havirov, Czech Republic 

Barcelona: page 2-3 © Turisme de Barcelona 

Cartoon Jim Cogan 

Printing 

Drukkerij BibloVanGerwen, ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands 

Contact editors 

For general remarks, questions and suggestions, e-mail p.stork@ehaweb.org 


Upcoming 

Congresses 

Barcelona 

> 15 th Congress of EHA 

Date: June 10 – 13, 2010 

Place: Barcelona, Spain 

Congress President: Dr J San Miguel 

London 


Date: June 9-12, 2011 

Place: London, United Kingdom 

Congress President: Dr I Roberts 

Helsinki 


Date: June 14-17, 2012 

Place: Helsinki, Finland


EHA Executive Offi ce 

Koninginnegracht 12b 

2514 AA The Hague 

The Netherlands 

T. +31 (0)70 3020 099 

F. +31 (0)70 3923 663 

E. info@ehaweb.org 

W. ehaweb.org 

the offi cial newsletter for members of the EHA 

Corporate 

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Contributors

EHA Congress 15th Anniversary - European Hematology Association

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