Speakers

CEO, Indy Hematology Education, Inc.
Partner and Vice President, Hematology Oncology of Indiana
Indianapolis, IN

Ruemu E. Birhiray, MD, is an attending physician in medical oncology, hematology, and hematopoietic cell transplantation at Hematology Oncology of Indiana. Dr. Birhiray received his medical degree from the University of Benin in Benin City, Nigeria. After completing his internal medicine residency at Columbus Hospital in Chicago, he completed a postgraduate fellowship in bone marrow transplantation at The Johns Hopkins University and another fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.
Current projects for which Dr. Birhiray is principal investigator include reduced intensity allogeneic transplantation in hematologic malignancies and a trial of interferon A, CHOP, and rituximab therapy in advanced-stage follicular lymphoma.
A member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology and the American Medical Association, Dr. Birhiray has published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Gene Therapy, and Therapeutic Apheresis.

The Johns Hopkins Family Professor of Medicine and Oncology Director, Division of Hematology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore

Robert A. Brodsky, MD, is The Johns Hopkins Family Professor of Medicine and Oncology and director of the division of Hematology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is an attending physician at Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital. Dr. Brodsky received his medical degree from M.D. Hahnemann University. He completed his residency at Vanderbilt University and his fellowship training in the Hematology Branch at NIH and at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Brodsky’s clinical and academic interests include aplastic anemia, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and other bone marrow failure disorders. Dr. Brodsky's major clinical research involves the study of aplastic anemia, PNH and other bone marrow failure disorders. His major laboratory interests relate to the study of normal and abnormal hematopoiesis, specifically PIG-A gene mutations in aplastic anemia. His research group has developed a novel diagnostic assay for PNH based on the pore forming toxin (aeromonas hydrophila). His research has been published extensively in medical journals, including American Journal of Clinical Oncology, British Journal of Haematology, Human Gene Therapy, Blood, Leukemia and Annals of Internal Medicine.

Bruce D. Cheson, M.D., FACP, FAAS, FASCO attended the University of Virginia and then Tufts University Medical School. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Hospitals and then a clinical and research fellowship in Hematology at New England Medical Center Hospital. From 1977-1984 he was Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Utah. From 1986-2002, he was Head, Medicine Section, CTEP at the National Cancer Institute. Currently, Dr. Cheson is Professor of Medicine, Head of Hematology and Deputy Chief, Hematology-Oncology at Georgetown University Hospital, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Cheson has authored over 500 medical publications and abstracts and has contributed to over 60 texts. He is former Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Advances in Hematology, Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Lymphoma, Leukemia and Myeloma. He is also on the editorial board of numerous journals. He has also been the editor of the American College of Physician’s Medical Knowledge Assessment Program in Oncology and the ASCO SEP. He has served on several committees of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and was on its Board of Directors, and edited ASCO News and ASCO Daily News. From 2002-2006, he was on the Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He is past-Chair of the Lymphoma Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B/Alliance, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and the AJCC Subcommittee on Lymphoma. Dr. Cheson’s clinical interests focus on the development and evaluation of new therapeutic approaches for hematologic malignancies.

Richard W. Childs, MD, CAPT, USPHS, is a tenured senior clinical investigator in the Hematology Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and is a captain in the United States Commissioned Corps.

Dr. Childs received his medical degree from Georgetown University. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and fellowships in oncology and hematology at the National Cancer Institute and the NHLBI at the NIH.

Dr. Childs is a leader in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplant research and tumor immunotherapy. Dr. Childs was the first to establish the existence of a graft-vs-solid tumor effect mediated by transplanted donor T-cells that could cure patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Dr. Childs leads a laboratory that conducts translational research aimed at improving the safety of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and developing methods to augment graft-vs-tumor effects against cancer. His research interests include tumor immunology and allogeneic immunotherapy for solid tumors and hematological malignancies, focusing on methods to increase the antitumor effects of natural killer cell-based therapy for cancer. Dr. Childs has contributed to more than 20 text-book chapters on bone marrow transplantation and 150 original peer-reviewed manuscripts in journals such as Lancet, Blood, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Cancer Research, Nature Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine. In recognition of his scientific and clinical achievements, he has received several awards including three separate NIH Clinical Center Director's Awards, the NHLBI Award for Scientific Merit and the NIH Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award. Dr. Childs was inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2009. In 2010, he received the Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal from the United States Surgeon General, which is the highest award in the Public Health Service, for contributions that have advanced the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Dr. Kessler is professor of Medicine and Pathology and Section Chief of Hematology. He is also Director of the Coagulation Laboratory at Georgetown. A graduate of Tulane School of Medicine, Dr. Kessler received his specialty training in hematology and oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. An international expert in the area of disorders of coagulation, Dr. Kessler has a particular interest in hemophilia. He also has expertise in the treatment of hematologic malignancies.

Professor of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology
The University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center
Chicago

Richard Larson, MD, is a professor of medicine in the Section of Hematology/Oncology and director of the Hematologic Malignancies Clinical Research Program at the University of Chicago. He received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training in internal medicine, hematology and oncology at the University of Chicago. He was a fellow of the Leukemia Society of America and was granted a Clinical Oncology Career Development Award from the American Cancer Society.

Dr. Larson has been a member of the faculty in the Section of Hematology/Oncology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Chicago since 1983. He was director of the Leukemia Clinical Research Program from 1983 to 2000, when he established the adult allogeneic bone marrow transplant program. Other appointments include chair of the Leukemia Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, where he directs a large portfolio of clinical trials and ancillary laboratory studies in acute and chronic leukemias and myeloma.

Dr. Larson is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology, and has served as a member of the Hematology Subspecialty Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine. He maintains an active clinical practice at the University of Chicago Medical Center and participates actively in the training of fellows in hematology/oncology. His current research interests include clinical trials in hematologic malignancies and stem cell transplantation, experimental therapeutics, the determinants of response to therapy in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes, and the etiology of therapy-related leukemias.
Dr. Larson has published more than 300 papers, reviews, and book chapters on clinical and laboratory studies in human leukemias. He has served on the editorial boards of Blood, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Leukemia. He is a section editor for leukemia of UpToDate.

Professor of Medicine and Pathology
Section Chief, Hematology
Weill Cornell Medical College

Dr. John P. Leonard received his BA from Johns Hopkins University and MD from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He completed internal medicine residency training, where he was chief resident, and was a fellow in the division of hematology at New York Hospital—Cornell Medical Center. He is an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and associate dean for clinical research at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he is also director of the hematology/oncology clinical research program and chief of the lymphoma/myeloma service. Dr. Leonard serves on the editorial boards of Blood and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Advanced Oncology Nurse Practitioner, Hematology Oncology of Indiana

Linda Nielsen is an advanced oncology certified nurse practitioner with Hematology Oncology of Indiana. She is board certified in family practice, has a post-masters in Geriatrics and will complete her doctorate this Spring at Purdue University focusing on survivorship and implementation of research into practice. Her 33 years of clinical experience include hematology/oncology, pain management, addictions, psychiatric care, medical/surgical, home care, geriatrics, ER, hospice, pain management, trauma, cardiac and burn unit. Linda has directed teams in the development of several patient care models including a chronic disease management program for underserved populations for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, an on-site Coumadin clinic for American Health Network, a Primary Geriatric Clinic Model for St. Vincent Health, Highway2Health Care Link Model for Celadon Trucking company and a Care Transition Model for high risk populations for Advantage Health Solutions; all with validated outcome measures. Her memberships include Sigma Theta Tau, Oncology Nursing Society and American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Her presentations have included “How to practice evidence based medicine with a sample size of 2” on the frail elderly, “When everything goes South that you need to go North” on bedside assessment for the Geriatric nurse, “Oral Chemotherapy”, and “Survivorship.”

Paul G. Richardson, MD

RJ Corman Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Clinical Program Leader, Director of Clinical Research, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, Massachusetts

Dr Paul Richardson received his medical degree from the Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, UK. His postdoctoral training included internship in the Departments of Medicine & Surgery at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; residency in the Department of Medicine at Newcastle University School of Medicine; appointment as Chief Resident in Medical Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and Surrey; and additional residency training at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, USA. He completed fellowships in hematology/oncology and medical oncology at Tufts University School of Medicine, Baystate Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before coming on staff at DFCI in 1994.

Dr. Richardson currently holds leadership positions in several professional bodies and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of Oncology, The Oncologist, Clinical Cancer Research, and the British Journal of Hematology. He is the prior Chairman of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium, Clinical Trials Core, a position he held for 5 years as a founding member and as part of a rotating tenure, and for which he continues to serve on the Steering Committee and Project Review Committee. He now chairs the newly formed Multiple Myeloma Committee for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (the former CALGB). His honors include several Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dana-Farber Partners in Excellence Awards; The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Teaching Scholars Award; The Tisch Outstanding Achievement Award for Clinical Research; and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s George Canellos Award for Excellence in Clinical Research and Patient Care. For his contributions in hematology and oncology, and in particular myeloma, he was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in 2009, and he was also more recently a co-recipient of the prestigious Warren Alpert Prize in 2012, and received the Ernest Beutler Prize at ASH 2015.

Dr. Richardson has published more than 320 original articles, and more than 200 reviews, chapters, and editorials in leading peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Clinical Cancer Research, and British Journal of Haematology. His primary research interest is in novel therapies, and he has been a leader in the clinical development of bortezomib, lenalidomide and pomalidomide. Currently, he is leading multiple efforts studying the use of combination therapies in relapsed  and refractory myeloma, an area of primary interest to him, and he has pioneered the development of  lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (so called RVD), which is now one of the most widely used combinations nationwide in the upfront treatment of myeloma. He is also serving as a principal investigator for several clinical trials relating to other areas of myeloma treatment, including the use of combination therapies in earlier disease designed to target resistance and reduce toxicity.

Charles Schiffer, MD, is Professor of Oncology and Medicine, Head, Multidisciplinary Leukemia/Lymphoma Team, and Director of Fellowship Program, Division of Hematology/Oncology at Wayne State University. He received his MD and his residency training in internal medicine from New York University School of Medicine.
He has nearly 20 years of faculty and leadership experience at Wayne State University, including various roles with Karmanos Cancer Institute. Prior to Detroit, he held several chief and director responsibilities with the University of Maryland Cancer Center, as well as the National Cancer Institute, in Baltimore, MD.
His research has centered on leukemia biology and treatment and platelet transfusion therapy. Dr. Schiffer has been honored with multiple community, educational and clinical awards, locally and nationally, throughout his career.

Director, Adult Leukemia Program, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Attending Physician, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (Boston)

Richard M. Stone, MD, is director of the Adult Leukemia Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he earned his medical degree. Dr. Stone completed his internship and residencies in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he was designated chief medical resident. Dr. Stone trained as a fellow in medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Stone cares for patients with acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplasia, and myeloproliferative disorders. Dr. Stone conducts clinical and translational research with the goal of deriving better outcomes for patients with these disorders. His laboratory research focuses on the mechanism of leukemic cell differentiation, with the ultimate goal of producing new cancer therapies.
Dr. Stone’s articles, which are primarily devoted to leukemia and related topics, are published in Blood, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Genetics, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He serves as vice-chair of the Leukemia Committee of the National Cancer Cooperative Trials Group, CALGB. Dr. Stone is chair of the Medical Oncology Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine and serves as chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for the International Aplastic Anemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation, a patient advocacy group. He is a recipient of the American Cancer Society Clinical Career Development Award, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Investigator Award, Upjohn Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research, and the NIH FIRST Award.

Chief, Leukemia Service
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Weill Cornell Medical College
New York, New York

Martin S. Tallman, MD, serves as chief of the Leukemia Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and professor of medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. He is a renowned expert in the management and development of new treatments for patients with both acute and chronic leukemia. He has been at the forefront of several key clinical trials that have led to new standards of care.

Dr. Tallman received his medical degree from the University of Chicago Medical School. After completing house staff training in internal medicine at Northwestern University, Dr. Tallman held a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington. Prior to his appointment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Dr. Tallman served as a tenured professor of medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and associate chief of the division of Hematology/Oncology at Northwestern University.
In addition to his significant contributions to clinical research, Dr. Tallman has held various leadership roles in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, where he chairs the Leukemia Committee; the National Comprehensive Cancer Network; the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry; the National Bone Marrow Program; and the Leukemia Research Foundation. He also serves as an associate editor for the journal Blood.

Professor of Hematology and Internal Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minnesota

Ayalew Tefferi, MD, was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and migrated to the United States after completing his medical school education at the University of Athens in Greece. Dr. Tefferi received his hematology training at Mayo Clinic before joining the faculty at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, division of hematology, in the department of medicine. He is currently a full professor in hematology and internal medicine.

Dr. Tefferi is engaged primarily in direct patient care. His clinical and laboratory interests focus on myeloid disorders including polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, myelofibrosis, chronic myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, acute leukemia, and the atypical myeloproliferative disorders including hypereosinophilic syndrome and systemic mastocytosis. His academic and research achievements have been copious and include more than 800 publications, books, book chapters, original articles, reviews, editorials, letters, and abstracts. He serves as an associate or section editor for the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Leukemia, American Journal of Hematology and European Journal of Hematology. He also participates in the editorial board of several journals including Blood, Cancer, Leukemia Research, Acta Haematologica, and Leukemia and Lymphoma. Dr. Tefferi has given more than 500 national and international invited lectureships and serves as faculty for the annual Hematology and Oncology Board review courses at George Washington University, Harvard and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, Bing Center for Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia, Adult Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Boston, Mass.)

Dr. Steven Treon is the director of the Bing Center for Waldenström’s Research and an attending physician for medical oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass He is also an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston and is the chair of the Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia Clinical Trials Group.

After earning a doctorate in tumor immunology from Boston University, Dr Treon completed a postgraduate fellowship in the Department of Microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr Treon also received a medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and completed an internship in medicine and a residency in internal medicine at BU Medical Center. Dr Treon also served a clinical fellowship in hematology and oncology at Mass General Hospital and a research fellowship at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

Dr Treon’s main research interests focus on understanding the genetic basis and pathogenesis of Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia and the development of therapeutics for this malignancy. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Blood, Clinical Cancer Research and The Lancet.

President, Providence Hospital
Executive Vice President West Region
St. John Providence Health System
Warren, Michigan

Michael C. Wiemann, MD, FACP, is the president of Providence Hospital and executive vice president of the West Region of the St. John Providence Health System in Warren, Mich. He was previously senior vice president and chief medical officer of St.Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. After receiving his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport, he completed his internship and residency and served as chief resident in internal medicine at LSU Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Shreveport. He then became a fellow in medical oncology at Roger Williams General Hospital at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. After completion of his fellowship, he joined the faculty of Brown University School of Medicine. Among other leadership positions, he served as the associate director of Brown’s NCI-designated cancer center. He was subsequently recruited to St.Vincent to serve as its first medical director of oncology. During his more than 20 years in this position, he oversaw the construction of the St.Vincent inpatient hospice and the Oncology Center and established the bone marrow transplant program. He also was the principal investigator for the Ascension Health/St. Vincent National Community Cancer Center Program.

Dr. Wiemann’s publications reflect his research interests in bone marrow transplant and immunotherapeutics for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma and metastatic melanoma. He is widely published in peer-reviewed journals including Blood, Cancer Research, Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals, Cancer, European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology, and Gynecologic Oncology. He has contributed numerous invited reviews and book chapters and delivered presentations both nationally and internationally.

Laboratory of Lymphoid Malignancies
Dr. Adrian Wiestner heads the Laboratory of Lymphoid Malignancies, Hematology Branch, NHLBI. Dr. Wiestner earned his M.D. from the University of Basel Medical School in Switzerland in 1992, and a Ph.D. in genetics in 1998. He entered the NHLBI Hematology Fellowship Program in 2000. In September 2004, Dr. Wiestner was appointed as a Tenure Track Investigator and promoted to Senior Investigator in 2013. He leads an integrated clinical and laboratory research program directed to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Dr. Wiestner’s goals are to define key pathogenic pathways in these diseases and translate novel agents and treatment strategies into clinical trials. He formulated and completed a number of clinical trials, most recently investigating the role of kinase inhibitors in the treatment of high-risk CLL. A major contribution of Dr. Wiestner’s laboratory is the delineation of drug induced changes in tumor biology during treatment and the identification of resistance mechanisms and potential predictive markers. Dr. Wiestner is considered one of the world’s experts in CLL and MCL and has published and lectured extensively on the diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment of these currently incurable diseases.