EHA 2016: Dr. George Follow talks about the changing management of CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia)

It was great to meet a few of you in San Francisco yesterday. We’re looking forward to getting a CLL Support Group going there in 2017.

Today in the Conference Coverage section of the CLL Society website, we’ve posted an interview with Dr. George Follows where he talks about the changing management of CLL and what the patient’s role is to get the best possible care. Dr. Follows chaired the session I spoke at at the European Hematology Meeting in Copenhagen in June 2016. More than a 1000 hematologists were in attendance at our pre-meeting symposium.

You can view my interview here. http://cllsociety.org/2016/10/eha-2016-changing-mgmt-cll/

Patient & Caregiver Support Meetings

NEW! Tuesday, November 1^st at 6:30 PM at the Moffitt McKinley Outpatient Center in Tampa, FL – the first meeting of a new CLL Patient & Caregiver Support and Education Group. Patients and family caregivers are welcome. You can find more information here! Terry Evans who does a great job facilitating our founding group in Orange County, CA will be there to help launch this one.

Post-ASH CLL Patient Educational Forum at City of Hope

We're excited to announce that on Saturday, December 17th, in partnership with City of Hope Medical Center and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the CLL Society will be hosting the second annual Post-ASH CLL Educational Forum at City of Hope. Dr. Tanya Siddiqi will be presenting on the latest data on Diagnosis and Frontline Treatment and Dr. Steven Rosen will present on Relapsed Disease and Novel Therapies. We look forward to seeing you there.

You can access the flyer here http://www.cllsociety.org/docs/2016%20COH%20Post-ASH%20Patient%20Forum%20Final.pdf and pre-registration is requested. https://2016cllforum.questionpro.com/

I will be speaking there and sure hope you can attend. If it anything like last year's forum, it will be super.

Patient Education Meetings:

From time to time, we will make you aware of in-person Patient Education meetings coming up for those of us affected by CLL and lymphoma, specifically:

·      Wednesday, November 16^th at 6 PM at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport – Mall of America in Bloomington, MN: The Lymphoma Research Foundation will be hosting Updates on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia / Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma as part of their Ask the Doctor series. Dr. Timothy Call, from the Mayo Clinic is the featured speaker. You can find out more information and register here. Dinner will be served and there is no charge to attend.

·      Friday, November 18^th from 7:30 AM to 2:15 PM at the Hilton Hotel City Avenue in Philadelphia, PA: The Abramson Cancer Center in partnership with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will be hosting 9th Focus on Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma and Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplantation Conference. Dr. Anthony Mato is the featured speaker for the CLL Workshop. You can find out more information and register here.

Heads Up! The CLL Society has become aware of a series of unbranded (no specific drug discussion) patient education meetings coming up in November. CLL patients will share their personal stories, and local CLL experts will be providing a talk on the basics of CLL. A complimentary meal will be provided and parking is free. You are welcome to bring a guest.

One member of the CLL Society will be at each meeting to show a brief video and give a talk about the impact support and education groups have had on their CLL journey. We will provide practical tips and support for setting up a local CLL group and will stay afterwards to meet with attendees who may be interested in participating in a support group in those areas. We look forward to meeting you there. The next 3 confirmed meetings are:

·      Thursday, November 10^th in Metairie, LA. More details in the flyer. Access it here.

·      Thursday, November 15^th in Independence, OH. More details in the flyer. Access it here.

·      Wednesday, November 16^th in Austin, TX. More details in the flyer. Access it here.

In the meantime….

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian Koffman, MD

10/31/16

http://cllsociety.org

EHA 2016: Professor Hallek on the unmet needs in CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia)

Today in the 2016 Conference Coverage section of the CLL Society website, we’ve posted an interview with Dr. Michael Hallek about the unmet needs in CLL as well as his approach to addressing them through research. You can view my interview here. http://cllsociety.org/2016/10/eha-2016-hallek-unmet-needs-cll/

If you have not yet participated in our Reader Poll to give us feedback about how we’re doing and what topics you would like to see covered in the future, please take 2 minutes and do so if you have time. We appreciate the input we’ve received so far and would love to receive more. Thank you. You can access it here. https://q32016ask.questionpro.com/

Patient & Caregiver Support Meetings

Monday, October 17^th at 7:00 PM at the City of Hope in Duarte, CA. See here for more information. http://cllsociety.org/event/city-hope-cll-support-group/2016-10-17/ I will be speaking there.

NEW! Tuesday, October 18^th at 6:30 PM at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, NC – the first meeting of a new CLL Patient & Caregiver Support and Education Group. Patients and family caregivers are welcome. Find out more about dates and registration here. http://cllsociety.org/docs/CLL%20Patient%20Caregiver%20Support%20Group%20Levine%20Cancer%20Center.pdf

NEW! Tuesday, November 1^st at 6:30 PM at the Moffitt McKinley Outpatient Center in Tampa, FL – the first meeting of a new CLL Patient & Caregiver Support and Education Group. Patients and family caregivers are welcome. You can find more information here! http://cllsociety.org/docs/Tampa%20Patient%20Support%20Group%20Flyer.pdf

If you’re aware of other CLL Patient Support Group meetings, let us know and we’ll post them. Thanks!

Patient Education Meetings

From time to time, we will make you aware of in-person Patient Education meetings coming up for those of us affected by CLL and lymphoma, specifically:

·      Wednesday, November 16th at 6 PM at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport – Mall of America in Bloomington, MN: The Lymphoma Research Foundation will be hosting Updates on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia / Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma as part of their Ask the Doctor series. Dr. Timothy Call, from the Mayo Clinic is the featured speaker. Dinner will be served and there is no charge to attend. You can find out more information and register here. http://www.lymphoma.org/site/pp.asp?c=bkLTKaOQLmK8E&b=9301553

Heads Up! The CLL Society has become aware of a series of unbranded (no specific drug discussion) patient education meetings coming up in October and November. CLL patients will share their personal stories, and local CLL experts will be providing a talk on the basics of CLL. A complimentary meal will be provided and parking is free. You are welcome to bring a guest.

One member of the CLL Society will be at each meeting to show a brief video and give a talk about the impact support and education groups have had on their CLL journey. We will provide practical tips and support for setting up a local CLL group and will stay afterwards to meet with attendees who may be interested in participating in a support group in those areas. We look forward to meeting you there. The next 4 confirmed meetings are:

·      Tuesday, October 25^th in Golden, CO. More details in the flyer. Access it here. http://cllsociety.org/docs/BCO_LPOP_CLL_EventFlyer_DenverCO_082216.pdf

·      Saturday, October 29^th in San Francisco, CA. More details in the flyer. Access it here. http://cllsociety.org/docs/EventFlyer_SanFranCA.pdf I will be at this one

·      Thursday, November 10^th in Metairie, LA. More details in the flyer. Access it here. http://cllsociety.org/docs/BCO_LPOP_CLL_EventFlyer_NewOrleans_082416.pdf

·      Wednesday, November 16^th in Austin, TX. More details in the flyer. Access it here. http://cllsociety.org/docs/BCO_LPOP_CLL_EventFlyer_AustinTX_082416.pdf

In the meantime….

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian Koffman, MD

10/10/16

http://cllsociety.org

The Patients' Perspective on the Changes in CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) Treatment from EHA

If you recall, a month ago I was in Copenhagen for the European Hematology Association  (EHA) meeting and I had the privilege to be asked to speak with a very distinguished panel of CLL experts at a symposium that drew over 1,000 hematologists. Recently in our Conference Coverage section, we have posted a video review by Dr. George Follows of that symposium. You can hear about the highlights here. http://cllsociety.org/2016/07/panel-discussion-management-cll-changing/

Presenting the results of the 350 patients who answered our survey on therapy really added to my credibility in front of my fellow doctors. Thanks to those who helped with that.

If you were on vacation during these first weeks of July, we’d like to call your attention to our quarterly newsletter The CLL Tribune and also request that you take 3 minutes to answer our latest short Reader Poll about what you look for in your CLL physicians. You can access it here. https://asktellq22016.questionpro.com/ Thanks to the 140 CLL patients who have already responded. It really helps. The Tribune is the product of many authors, both patients and doctors. Please enjoy the articles and interviews from the Q2 2016 issue of The CLL Tribune:

· Reading/viewing an interview with Dr. Jeff Jones about Venetoclax from the recent EHA meeting in Copenhagen in Conference Coverage

· Read answers to reader questions by Dr. Rick Furman in Ask the Doctor

· Learn about what bone marrow does in The Basics Section

· In Beyond the Basics, find out about the ASCO sponsored TAPUR trial which is looking for new creative uses for already approved targeted therapies

· Learn new facts about CLL in the Did You Know section

· View some data from our most recent Reader Poll and share with us your opinions on CLL experts and whom you might recommend to other patients in our Ask & Tell section

· In Living Well with CLL, you can read about:

o Why You Should See a CLL Specialist

o How my Support Group Saved my Life

o I Don’t Have CLL. Yes, I Do. Now, I Don’t.

o On Being a Novice Patient

o May I Remember Never To Forget

In the meantime….

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian Koffman, MD

Volunteer Medical Director of the CLL Society

7/16/16

http://cllsociety.org