SCDC Update

This is a special issue of the SCDC Update, which highlights the sickle cell disease (SCD) related programs and opportunities at the 59th ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition, scheduled for December 9-12, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia. This meeting is the world’s premier event in malignant and non-malignant hematology. The meeting provides an invaluable educational experience and an opportunity to review thousands of scientific abstracts highlighting updates in the hottest topics in hematology. Attendees have the opportunity to network with top minds in the field, as well as a global community of more than 20,000 hematology professionals from every subspecialty, including SCD.

Sickle Cell Disease Kiosk 

This year’s meeting will feature an ASH Sickle Cell Disease Kiosk, to inform attendees about ASH’s multifaceted initiative to address the global burden of SCD.  Stop by the Kiosk to learn about the important actions ASH has already taken and continues to explore to make a significant difference in SCD access to care, research, and global issues.  Attendees are also encouraged to stop by the Kiosk to share information about your exciting SCD-related work, learn how you can volunteer to help advance ASH’s SCD initiative, or stay abreast of the initiative. The Kiosk will be located in the lobby in front of Hall C2 during the following dates and times: 

Friday, December 8, 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 9, 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 10, 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Monday, December 11, 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, December 12, 7:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

 

Educational Sessions

Educational Program - Lessons Learned from Quality Improvement Initiatives in Sickle Cell Disease 

This session is offered twice:
Saturday, Dec. 9, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg B- Lvl 4- B405-B407 

Monday, Dec.11, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg B- Lvl 4- B405-B407

Hematologists are called upon to provide care for a growing number of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), often with little guidance as to what represents best practice. Add to that challenge the high expectations from insurers and hospitals as reimbursement shifts from fee-for-service to value-based models in which payments are tied to the quality of services delivered, as opposed to the volume. In this session, speakers will examine models of care for patients with SCD, focusing on what constitutes high-quality care and how to measure it. Read more.

Educational Program - Management of Sickle Cell Disease: Present and Future

This session is offered twice:  
Saturday, Dec. 9, 9:30 a.m.- 11 a.m., Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg B-Lvl 4- B405-B407

*Saturday, Dec. 9, 4:00 p.m.- 5:30 p.m., Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg B-Lvl 4- B405-B407

While the morbidity and mortality of sickle cell disease (SCD) has decreased in developed countries, the effects of sustained hemolytic anemia and episodic vaso-occlusive events often lead to end-organ complications and failure. In addition to chronic pain, progressive disease of the cardiopulmonary system, central nervous system, and kidneys have the most significant effects on patient morbidity and premature mortality.  This session will look at the overall management of SCD, focusing on what is done currently, and what new therapeutic approaches might look like. Read more.  

Educational Program - Practical Aspects of Acute and Chronic Pain Management in Sickle Cell Disease 

This session is offered twice:
Sunday, Dec. 10, 9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg B- Lvl 4- B405-B407

*Monday, Dec. 11, 2:45 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg B- Lvl 4- B405-B407

Pain causes significant suffering for individuals living with sickle cell disease (SCD). Although great strides have been made into the investigation and treatment of acute and chronic SCD pain, development of mechanism-based treatable targets and optimization of the assessment and treatment of pain are essential to improving pain outcomes for individuals with this disease. This session will focus on models of care for pain treatment, pain measurement tools, and mechanism-based therapeutic pain targets. Read more.

Scientific Program

Next Generation Sequencing in Routine Diagnostics: Are We There Yet?

This session is offered twice:* 
Saturday, Dec. 9, 7:30 a.m.– 9:00 a.m., Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg A- Lvl 4- A411-A412

*Sunday, Dec. 10, 9:30– 11:00 a.m., Georgia World Congress Center, Bldg C- Lvl 3- Georgia BR 1-3

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has been instrumental in broadening our knowledge of the genomic landscape of hematologic malignancies, and their application as diagnostic and prognostic tools has been rapidly expanding. This session will focus on the utility of NGS in the routine hematologic practice. Read more.

Special Interest Sessions

Consultative Hematology Course

*Monday, December 11, 2017, 7:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
*Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Int’l Blrm. A-D No. Twr. M2

The ASH Consultative Hematology Course is an interactive half-day program led by faculty familiar with consultative practice issues and commonly-encountered clinical problems that require the expertise of a hematologist. Participants in this program will engage in interactive case-based presentations and discussions focusing on non-malignant hematology topics such as thrombosis, anemia, and sickle cell disease. Update your core knowledge of non-malignant hematology by attending this course! One talk is titled: Sickle Cell Disease in Adults: What does the consultant hematologist need to know? Read more.

 

Oral and Poster Sessions on Sickle Cell

The following oral and poster sessions feature the latest research in the field of sickle cell disease. For the second year in a row, PosterCast, a free smartphone app that allows meeting attendees to stream succinct 3-minute audio explanations of poster presentations will be available. Second Screen, a technology that enables the participant to see session slides on their personal devices for better viewing, will also be available for attendees. This new technology is only available onsite and will also permit electronic Q&A. For more information on the Oral and Poster Sessions and the abstracts presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition please visit the ASH Annual Meeting page.


Orals & Posters
*Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all posters and orals that cover sickle cell disease. 

901. Health Services Research—Non-Malignant Conditions: Sickle Cell Disease
Orals
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM, GWCC, Bldg B, Lvl 2, B216-B217

Posters   
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Monday, December 11, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

113. Hemoglobinopathies, Excluding Thalassemia—Basic and Translational Science: Sickle Cell Disease—Pathophysiology and Investigational Therapies
Orals**
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM, GWCC, Bldg B, Lvl 3, B312-B314 

Posters 
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Monday, December 11, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

801. Gene Therapy and Transfer: Immune Disorders, CAR-T Cells, and B-hemoglobinopathies
Orals 
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM, GWCC, Bldg C, Lvl 1, C101 Aud 

Posters
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Monday, December 11, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

113. Hemoglobinopathies, Excluding Thalassemia—Basic and Translational Science: Sickle Cell Disease—Hematopoiesis and Fetal Hemoglobin Augmentation
Orals 
Monday, December 11, 2017: 7:00 AM - 8:30 AM, GWCC, Bldg B, Lvl 3, B302-B303 

Posters 
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Monday, December 11, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

114. Hemoglobinopathies, Excluding Thalassemia—Clinical I
Orals 
Monday, December 11, 2017: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM, GWCC, Bldg B, Lvl 3, B308-B309 

Posters 
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM

 
114. Hemoglobinopathies, Excluding Thalassemia—Clinical II
Orals
Monday, December 11, 2017: 2:45 PM - 4:15 PM, GWCC, Bldg B, Lvl 3, B308-B309

Posters
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

114. Hemoglobinopathies, Excluding Thalassemia—Clinical III
Orals 
Monday, December 11, 2017: 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM, GWCC, Bldg B, Lvl 3, B308-B309 

Posters
Monday, December 11, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

903. Outcomes Research—Non-Malignant Conditions: Sickle Cell Disease
Orals 
Monday, December 11, 2017: 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM, GWCC, Bldg C, Lvl 2, C211-C213 

Posters**
Saturday, December 9, 2017: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
Sunday, December 10, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Monday, December 11, 2017: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
 

Visit the Exhibit Hall as a Learning Opportunity

Visit the exhibit hall located in hall B2-B4 to see the latest technology and research and learn about a wide range of products and services offered by over 250 exhibitors. Exhibitors will include pharmaceutical companies, medical suppliers, clinical diagnostic and research-based companies, publishers, and nonprofit organizations. The following SCDC members will be exhibiting. Make sure to stop by their booths to learn more about their organizations and SCD-related work and program

 

	Company	Booth
AABB	1848
Addmedica	445
American Society for Apheresis	1846
American Society of Hematology	1933
American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology	1741
ApoPharma	3232
bluebird bio	2949
College of American Pathologists	1742
FDA (Recruiting)	1560
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute	1655
National Marrow Donor Program	2040
Pfizer	2240
Prolong Pharmaceuticals	1351

For a complete list of exhibitors click here.

Events & Reception

ASH Run-Walk

The American Society of Hematology Foundation will sponsor a 3K/5K Run-Walk charity event during the 2017 ASH annual meeting. For the second year in a row, 100% of all proceeds from the ASH Foundation Run/Walk will be designated to the ASH Sickle Cell Disease Initiative Fund which provides resources to help improve access to care for individuals with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), advance SCD research, education and training programs, and address global issues related to SCD.
Register for the event, or make a donation today!  

 

ASH Promoting Minorities in Hematology: Presentations and Reception 

ASH will host an event “Promoting Minorities in Hematology” on Saturday, December 9th from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Georgia Aquarium. The program includes scientific presentations of the 2017 ASH Minority Medical Student Award Program participants and will be followed by a reception that will include poster presentations by students participating in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Minority Research Supplement and the Atlanta Sickle Cell Summer Research Training Program. There will also be an announcement about the newest recipients of the Minority Graduate Student Abstract Achievement Award and presentations by the ASH-AMFDP Award recipients. ASH-AMFDP is a partnership between ASH and the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The event will conclude with a buffet dinner and networking.