Summary report written by Anna Ossami Saidy, Secretary of the LWP.
The Educational Course of the Lymphoma Working Party took place in Warsaw, Poland this year. 64 participants, speakers and organizers met to spend two days dedicated to lymphoma, enlightening the latest developments in the field and sharing experiences with respect to well-established and brand-new therapeutic options.
It was a special enrichment for the course that people from all over the world made the (sometimes very long) way to engage in the meeting – Iwona Hus, the local host and Bertram Glass, Chairman of the LWP, were delighted to welcome participants from Argentina, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon and all over Europe.
With respect to the new players in the field, namely cell therapeutic options, antibody-drug-conjugates and bispecific antibodies, treatment regimens in lymphoma have been changing dramatically and the role for autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation often has to be redefined. All these aspects were adressed in this year’s meeting. Experts in the field presented the current and continously evolving standard of care including the most recent developments.
To round off the sessions young colleagues presented some excellent case reports that had previously been selected and contributed to the lifely discussions about difficult aspects and scientifically unanswered questions.
Robert Henderson from Dublin, Ireland, one of the young colleagues who joined our meeting this year, summarized his experiences with the following words:
"Attending the lymphoma working party educational course proved a superb opportunity for both education and networking. The programme provided a programme that was both broad and highly relevant to my clinical practise covering the most up to date topics in lymphoma and cellular therapy. There was a great balance of new data as well as case presentations to generating interesting discussion amongst the group. The meeting was attended by delegates from many different countries and provided a very supportive atmosphere to meeting with attending experts. I was delighted to leave the meeting with new contacts and look forward to the next EBMT event!"
Moreover, Warsaw turned out to be the ideal location for the course, offering the opportunity to enjoy a walk through the beautiful old town with numerous cosy cafés and restaurants at the end of the day.
Finally the participants enjoyed a relaxed and collegial atmosphere at the networking dinner that allowed to get in touch with the experts and other international attendees sharing a special interest for the world of lymphoma.
We would like to thank all the participants for making this Educational Course such a successful event in terms of professional and cultural exchange. We are looking forward to seeing you next year - stay tuned to find out about time and venue of the LWP Educational Course 2024.
