News

Day 1 of the October Scientific Meeting kicked off with our Haematology Education Day.

Highlights of the day:

• Professor Mark Hertzberg presented on the outcomes of HD10 trial.
• Professor Judith Trotman (ALLG Clinical Trials Leader), Toni Lindsay (Senior Clinical Psychologist), and Emma Priest (Clinical Trial Participant) shared their insights and experiences at the Lymphoma Australia Patient Forum.
• A Panel Discussion on Clinical trial unit readiness for Lymphoma and CLL trials with three senior Clinical trial managers: Carolyn Lauren (New Zealand), Angela Bayley (Westmead Hospital), and Karen Mccardie (Prince of Wales Hospital).

Day 2 of the meeting was our Clinical Trials Education Day

Highlights of the day:

• ALLG’s Ops Manager Naomi Sprigg interviewed APML3 trial’s top gun, Professor Harry Iland as he shared the latest in treatment advances and insights from his trials.
• The HeSANDA Workshop focused on advancing health research through data sharing, featuring insights from Matthias Liffers (ARDC), Professor Alison Yung (Deakin University), Dr Rhys Williams (ARDC), and Professor Dougie Boyle (Melbourne University).
• The Lymphoma Scientific Working Party Workshop included presentations from Dr Nicole Wong Doo, Dr Robert Weinkove and Professor Maher Gandhi on their upcoming research; a strategy planning on DLBCL and MCL; discussion on industry expectations for IITs led by Professor Simon Rule.
• The MDS/BMT workshop included discussions on MDS areas of unmet needs and future trial development by Associate Professor Anoop Enjeti ; unmet needs in allogeneic stem cell transplantation by Professor David Curtis; and 4-arm randomised trial by Dr Andrea Henden

At our ALLG October Scientific Meeting Awards dinner at the Shangri La hotel, we welcomed five of our newest life members, reflecting on the highlights and accomplishments from their impressive careers.

Congratulations to Mark Hertzberg, Paula Marlton, Michele Gambrill, Andrew Grigg and Andrew Roberts and thankyou for the groundbreaking things they have done to improve the lives of people impacted by blood cancer.

Day 3 was our first Plenary Day with the first updates from our Scientific Working Parties

• We kicked off with a presentation from Professor Uwe Platzbecker who worked on the AMLM27 trial, which was led in Australia by Professor Steven Lane. The session was followed by presentations from our AML, ALL & MDS chairs.
• Just before lunch, Peter Kempen hosted the ALLG AGM which also marked the official launch of our Annual Review, which our Members enjoyed reading.
  
• Newly inducted Life Member Professor Andrew Grigg shared how far we’ve come in CML & MPN looking back on trials past and present.
• At our 50th Anniversary Gala dinner at Crown Sydney, we were able to announce our 2023 Hall of Fame award recipients this year. Congratulations to the South Australian CML Research Teams!

Day 4 was our last Plenary Day

We officially wrapped up our 50th anniversary October Scientific Meeting today with our second Plenary Day.

• Newly inducted ALLG Life Member Professor Andrew Roberts updated on the progress of the HTA Review.
• Professor Simon Rule shared his thoughts on moving from Academia to Industry and spoke about his experience working with ALLG October Scientific Meeting Diamond Sponsor Astra Zeneca
• International speaker Professor Othman Al-Sawaf shared the latest on the CLL14 trial
• Professor Miles Prince opened the Myeloma session speaking about Myeloma Double Class Refractory Patients
• Guest speaker Professor Joy Ho presented breakthroughs in CAR-T and T Cell Redirection therapies in Myeloma
• We toasted the week that was with a Farewell End of Meeting Celebration from the SAC where we welcomed our new Early Career Clinician Researchers and bid everyone farewell.

Our special edition celebration event took place at Sydney’s Shangri La Hotel with a Gala Dinner on Thursday 26 October at Crown Towers Sydney.

During the AGM on the Thursday of the Scientific Meeting, we also launched the ALLG Annual Review. Download your special edition copy here.

The 50th anniversary October Scientific Meeting may be over, but ALLG Members can save the date for our 2024 meetings.

The May Scientific Meeting will be held in Adelaide from 21-24 May 2024.

The October Scientific Meeting will be held in Melbourne from 12-15 November 2024.

We look forward to seeing you in Adelaide in May!