October 10, 2017

Friends,

This past weekend I was up in San Francisco manning the CLL Society exhibit booth at the NCCN Hematologic Malignancies conference. We were happy to meet the physicians and nurses who attended and now are aware of the CLL Society. Did you know that NCCN has a new Patient Guide for CLL? We were asked to review the new booklet and to provide some patient quotes about living with CLL. You can access it here.

While I was away, I was also lucky to meet up with the group facilitators for our San Francisco CLL Support Group. It was great to hear about their group and how it is growing.

We’ve been mentioning our upcoming CLL Educational Forums lately. See below for the schedule, more information and to register. We look forward to meeting you there!

This week I’m posting an interview with Dr. Patrick Thornton from the 2017 CLL Ireland meeting. We spoke about the benefits of the partnership between a charity such as CLL Ireland in Ireland or the CLL Society in the USA and a CLL researcher and clinician, such as himself. You can watch our interview here.

CLL Patient Support Group Meetings Coming Up

Tuesday, October 10^th at 7:00 PM in Orange, CA – The Orange County CLL Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will be meeting. More information here.

Saturday, October 14^th at 2:00 PM in Orlando, FL – The Orlando CLL Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will be meeting. More information here.

Sunday, October 15^th at 4:00 PM in San Francisco, CA – The San Francisco CLL Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will be meeting. More information here.

Monday, October 16^th at 7:00 PM in Duarte, CA – The City of Hope CLL Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will be meeting. More information here.

Thursday, October 19^th at 6:00 PM in Milwaukee, WI – The FIRST meeting of the Milwaukee CLL Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will take place. More information here.

Thursday, October 19^th at 7:00 PM in Denver, CO – The Denver CLL Patient Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will take place. More information here.

ALSO – We are actively forming CLL-specific support groups in a number of cities across the country. There has been recent interest in forming support groups in the following cities: Oahu, HI, Palm Springs, New York City, Raleigh, NC, Cincinnati, OH, Dallas, TX, Syracuse, NY, Nashville, TN, Hartford, CT, Greensboro NC and Central Massachusetts. Complete the interest survey and let’s see if we can get one going! See what other cities are looking to form support groups by clicking here. Not listed, but interested in starting one? Email us at support@cllsociety.org Thanks!

CLL Patient Education Meetings

CLL Society Sponsored Meetings

SAVE THE DATE: The CLL Society will be hosting a series of CLL Patient Educational Forums. Mark your calendars! There is no charge to attend, but registration is required!

 November 4^th – University of California, Irvine in Orange, CA with Dr. Susan O’Brien and Dr. Richard Van Etten. More information here. Register here.

November 11^th – Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH with Dr. Brian Hill and Dr. Matt Kalaycio. More information here. Register here.

December 16^th – Swedish Cancer Center in Seattle, WA with Dr. John Pagel, Dr Krish Patel and Dr. Mazyar Shadman. More information here. Register here

December 16^th – National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD with Dr. Adrian Wiestner and Dr. Inhye Ahn. More information here. Register here.

January 6^th – Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA with Dr. Matthew Davids.

January 6^th – Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL with Dr. Javier Pinella.

January 13^th – City of Hope in Duarte, CA with Drs. Steven Rosen and Tanya Siddiqi.

January 27^th – Duke Cancer Institute in Raleigh, NC with Dr. Danielle Brander.

 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Sponsored Meetings

Wednesday, October 18th from 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM in La Jolla, CA – LLS will be hosting a dinner program, Living Well with CLL: Diagnosis, Treatment and Support being held at the Sheraton La Jolla in La Jolla, CA. Featured speakers include Januario Castro, MD and Sheila Hoff, RN, both from UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. This event is free, but registration is required. Find out more information here. Register here. (Register by Monday, October 16th)

Saturday, October 28^th from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM in Pittsburgh, PA – LLS will be hosting Pennsylvania Blood Cancer Conference being held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh—Green Tree. A breakout session on CLL will be held featuring Dhaval R. Mehta, MD from UPMC Cancer Center. This event is free, but registration is required. To find out more information and to register, click here.

Saturday, November 4th from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM in New York City – LLS will be hosting the New York/New Jersey Blood Cancer Conference 2017 being held at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City. A breakout session on CLL will be held featuring Michael W. Schuster, MD from Stony Brook University Hospital. This event is free but registration is required. Find out more information and register here.

Lymphoma Research Foundation Sponsored Meetings

LRF will be hosting Ask the Doctor: Updates on Lymphoma and Treatment Options meetings in Houston on November 16^th at 6 PM (NOTE NEW DATE). The meeting is free, but registration is required. Dinner will be provided to all registered attendees.

LRF will be hosting a Lymphoma Workshop in Seattle, WA on Saturday, November 11^th from 7:30 AM – 3:30 PM at the Sheraton Seattle. A breakout session on CLL will be held featuring John Pagel, MD, PhD, from the Swedish Cancer Institute and a member of the Medical Advisory Board for the CLL Society. The meeting is free, but registration is required. Click here for more information and to register.

In the meantime….

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Brian Koffman, MD