2018 Annual Report

ASH established this new non-profit in 2018 to foster collaborative partnerships to accelerate progress in hematology, with the goal of improving the lives of people affected by blood diseases.

ASH made great strides in its SCD Initiative, including the successful signing of the Sickle Cell Treatment Act, the development of new sickle cell disease guidelines, and the launch of a robust public awareness campaign. 

ASH continued to support hematologists around the world by providing funding, training, and mentorship to a new generation of ASH Awardees, and introducing a new award designed to support future international hematologists. 

ASH led the development of 19 clinical practical guidelines in 2018, including six new guidelines on venous thromboembolism (VTE) published in Blood Advances and debuted at the 2018 annual meeting. 

Eight “Highlights of ASH” meetings were held in 2018, including six in the United States and one each in Asia and Latin America. The Society celebrated 10 years of Highlights of ASH in Latin America in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while welcoming more than 800 attendees to the Asia-Pacific meeting in Bali, Indonesia. In 2018, ASH solidified plans for the all-new Highlights of ASH Mediterranean, coming to Athens, Greece, in March 2019.

ASH premiered its Summit on Emerging Immunotherapies for Hematologic Diseases in 2018, addressing effective development, regulation, and implementation of immunotherapies for hematologic diseases. The third ASH Meeting on Lymphoma Biology engaged participants in discussions on key topics relevant to the lymphoma community. Finally, the new FDA-ASH Clinical Endpoints Workshop gathered nearly 200 collaborators in a room, while 750 people from more than 20 countries watched the meeting online.

In addition to the ASH Annual Meeting and Highlights of ASH, the Society continued its series of premier educational meetings in 2018. More than 400 attendees gathered in Chicago, IL, for the ASH Meeting on Hematologic Malignancies. Additionally, ASH partnered with the American Society for Clinical Pathology, National Marrow Donor Program, Oncology Nursing Society, and The France Foundation to offer a free education program, MDS+AML MATTER.

ASH provides important resources to further enhance the value of ASH meetings for attendees and the hematology community. 

• ASH is an accredited continuing medical education (CME) provider, offering CME/MOC through ASH Meetings.

• ASH On Demand offers access to a wide range of online educational materials, including ASH meeting webcasts.

• ASH Academy offers access to online CME programming for our members, including the Biosimilars webinar series and the CML Interactive Cases.

Congressional highlights include securing a $2 billion increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health and the introduction and passage of S. 2465, the Sickle Cell Disease and Other Heritable Blood Disorders Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment Act of 2018, which was signed into law in December 2018. Congressional briefings on both sickle cell trait and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy were also organized by the Society to provide credible information to legislative staff while enhancing our visibility on Capitol Hill.

Highlights in working with the executive branch include meeting with Admiral Brett Giroir, MD, Assistant Secretary for Health, who has prioritized SCD within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and partnering with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a clinical endpoints workshop for SCD. The Society continued to work with ADM Giroir and other federal partners to identify ways to strengthen and expand federal SCD programs, as well as collaborate and leverage ASH’s SCD initiative to help improve outcomes for individuals living with SCD.

ASH continued to impart clinical knowledge worldwide through Highlights of ASH meetings, which distill the top hematology research from the ASH Annual Meeting in locations around the world, including Latin America. In 2018, ASH introduced Highlights of ASH in the Mediterranean, which will launch in Athens, Greece in March 2019. More than 40 percent of the 29,275 attendees at the 60th ASH Annual Meeting came from outside North America, and ASH debuted its first Japanese-language ASH Alexa to assist attendees. 

In 2018, ASH introduced the ASH Global Research Award, which is designed to support future international scientific leaders, increase hematology capacity, and nurture global collaboration. The award is intended to support hematologists between completion of their training and the establishment of their independent careers. The first generation of awardees came from Tanzania, Singapore, United Kingdom, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, and Guatemala.

Training programs such as the Clinical Research Training Institute in Latin America, Latin American Training Program, Visitor Training Program, and Translational Research Training in Hematology continued to provide important education and mentorship for hematologists worldwide, while programs like the International Outreach Initiative and Health Volunteer Overseas helped address hematology-related needs in developing countries.

In partnership with hematology societies throughout the world, ASH has undertaken several pioneering initiatives to combat blood diseases worldwide focused on education, training, and research. The Global Capacity-Building Showcase, an annual meeting poster category designed to spotlight research and capacity-building initiatives in lower- and middle-income countries, received 64 submissions and accepted 23 posters from various countries.