Abstracts Award Ceremony - Monday 31 August, 18:05 – 18:35H, Auditorium 1
Jian-Jian Luan Award 2020: Dr Monica Cabrero
This year’s Jian-Jian Luan Award has been awarded to Dr Monica Cabrero for her study “Ofatumumab as part of reduced intensity conditioning in high risk B-cell lymphoma patients: results from a prospective multicentre phase II trial”
The winning abstract can be viewed here:
https://www.professionalabstracts.com/ebmt2020/iPlanner/#/presentation/2242
Q: Congratulations on receiving this year's Jian-Jian Luan Award Monica. How did you feel when you received the news?
A: Thank you very much. I feel very happy to receive this award, not just for me but also as a recognition of the work of my collaborators.
Q: Tell us a bit about you. Where are you based, and the specialist areas that you work in?
A: I finished my residency in haematology in Salamanca University Hospital in 2012. In 2014 I was accepted as a fellow in MD Anderson Cancer Center Leukemia Department in Houston and in 2015 I came back to Salamanca to join our Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Team, where I am still based today.
Q: Tell us the background to your study, where did you get the idea for it?
A: In our group we are convinced that improvement in allogeneic stem cell transplant for lymphoma patients is necessary, because this is still a curative option for higher risk patients. That’s why we have developed different clinical trials in this field.
Q: What were the main findings of the study?
A: We saw that ofatumumab is safe when included as a part of a reduced intensity conditioning regimen and it could potentially mitigate the severity of graft versus host disease, one of the main complications of transplant.
Q: What are the implications of the study?
A: Graft versus host disease in one of the main complications of allogeneic stem cell transplant, and it is related with morbidity and mortality in these patients. Having drugs that could mitigate these complications means that we could lower transplant-related mortality. But maybe more important than the particular findings of our work, I am convinced that development of more clinical trials in allogeneic transplant patients is essential to improve outcomes for our patients.
Q: Tell us some of the sessions you would like to watch at this year’s EBMT special virtual congress.
A: I will be interested in new data on CAR T-cell therapy, but also implications of minimal residual disease in allogeneic transplant, advances in GvHD…the EBMT meeting always has an interesting programme to explore!
Thank you Monica, and we hope you enjoy the congress.