October 3, 2017

Friends,

I have just returned from the great state of Alaska and enjoying its beautiful and impressive scenery (with a side trip through Dallas on the way home). Amazing!

We’ve been mentioning our upcoming CLL Educational Forums lately. See below for the schedule and more information.

Last week we published the latest issue of The CLL Tribune. We’re so grateful to the patients and physicians who share their experiences and expertise to enrich our CLL Society community. If you would like to share your story, or have ideas for future articles, please reach out to us.

Please enjoy the articles and interviews from the Q3 2017 issue of The CLL Tribune:

• Read/view an interview with Dr. Brian Koffman and Dr. Tal Munir from the CLL Ireland Conference focusing on adaptive clinical trial design in Conference Coverage.
• Read answers to reader questions by Dr. Rick Furman in Ask the Doctor
• In Dr. Manali Kamdar’s article find out all about prognostic factors and what each of them means for treatment selection in The Basics Section
• In Beyond the Basics, Dr. Michael Choi describes a new monoclonal antibody, cirmtuzumab that targets ROR1 and a new trial that will combine this drug with ibrutinib and may lead to yet another step forward for patients with CLL.
• Learn new facts about CLL in the Did You Know section
• In Ask & Tell, we report on our Reader Poll focused on caregivers, and also direct you to surveys focused on treatment selection, as well as use of financial support services.
• In Living Well with CLL section, you can read about:
  • 10th anniversary of the Orange County CLL Patient and Caregiver Support Group
  • My Letter to Caregivers
  • My Remarkable Journey with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
  • Things to Know About Ibrutinib

CLL Patient Support Group Meetings Coming Up

Wednesday, October 4^th at 4:00 PM in San Diego, CA – The UCSD CLL Education and Support Group will be meeting. More information here.

Thursday, October 5^th at 7:00 PM in New City, NY – The CLL Information & Support Group of Rockland County NY, sponsored by LLS, will be meeting. More information here.

Sunday, October 8^th at 3:00 PM in Sandy Spring, GA – The Atlanta Metro CLL Support Group, sponsored by the CLL Society, will be meeting. More information here.

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.

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.

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 Pasadena, CA on October 5^th at 6 PM, and in Houston on November 16^th at 6 PM (NOTE NEW DATE). The meetings are free, but registration is required. Dinner will be provided to all registered attendees. Click the link for your city for more information and to register.

LRF will be hosting a Lymphoma Workshop in Bloomington, MN on Saturday, October 7^th from 7:30 AM – 3:45 PM at the Hilton Minneapolis / St. Paul Airport – Mall of America. A breakout session on CLL will be held featuring Sameer A. Parikh, M.B.B.S, from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. The meeting is free, but registration is required. Click here for more information and to register.

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