Professor Maria K Angelopoulou graduated from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School. She was trained in Hematology in the 1st Department of Internal Medicine in Athens. She continued her post graduate training in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA, where she completed her residency in Laboratory Hematology and performed research on xenotransplantation models for hematopoiesis. She completed her training at the City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA, as a fellow in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. From 2004, she works in the Department of Hematology and BMT of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her scientific and clinical field includes lymphoproliferative disorders and stem cell transplantation.

Dr. Abraham Avigdor is the director of the Institute of Hematology at Sheba Medical Center. He was the chairman of The Israeli Lymphoma Study Group between 2011 and 2018. He was trained in Internal Medicine and Hematology at Sheba Medical Center, and did his post-doctoral fellowship at Tsvee Lapidot's Lab at The Weizmann Institute, studying normal hematopoietic and leukemic stem cell development and migration. Dr. Avigdor is a medical Hemato-oncologist who focuses on the care of patients with lymphoma, and has clinical expertise in all types of lymphomas. His current clinical research focuses on the integration of CAR T-cells therapy into the modern management of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. He is also involved in the clinical research of PET/CT as a prognostic tool in Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas and the development of new therapy regimens, integrating biological and immunological agents in lymphomas. He has international collaborations with many research groups, including the LYSA (Lymphoma Study Association in France), EMCL (European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network) and the International Study Group on PET in Lymphoma and Myeloma.

Chairman, Tel Aviv Institute of Hematology and Bone marrow transplantation,  Tel Aviv Medical Center

Member Professor, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University

Prof Irit Avivi serves as the Director of Hematology division at Sourasky Tel Aviv Medical Center.

She was trained in adult Hemato-Oncology at Rambam Medical Center and completed a fellowship in lymphoma and myeloma at London University College Hospitals.

Her major research and clinical expertise are in prognostication and treatment of myeloma and lymphoma, including the employment of immune- modulating strategies (e.g:  dendritic cell fusion vaccine, regulatory cell depletion, CART cells etc.) and in managing hematological cancers during pregnancy.

She has over 160 scientific publications, has been frequent invited speaker and has won several awards for her immune- translational research in myeloma and Lymphoma.

She has extensive international collaborations with multiple groups in Europe and USA and is highly involved in many pivotal, phase 1-4 clinical studies including CAR-T CELL Therapy in myeloma and lymphoma.

In addition, she has a wide experience in initiating and conducting investigator initiated studies involving multiple centers, exploring new therapeutic approaches for myeloma and lymphoma and involving biomarker studies.

Dr Yael Cohen graduated from the Sackler medical school at the Tel Aviv university. She completed with distinction her specialization in Internal Medicine at the Sheba Medical center, Tel Ha’shomer, Israel, and completed her fellowship in hematology at the Rabin Medical Center, Israel.

Dr Cohen joined the Tel Aviv Sourasky medical center in 2011; in the past 4 years she serves as the director of the Myeloma service. Dr Cohen is responsible for the care of hundreds of myeloma patients annually at the outpatient hematology clinic, the day-care center. She develops and assimilates local myeloma management guidelines.

Dr Cohen is a senior lecturer at the Sackler faculty of medicine, and is actively engaged in training fellows, medical students and research students. She leads and participates in a variety of research projects in Israel and internationally, and serves as a primary investigator in clinical trials. Research interest include drug resistance in myeloma, and translational research involving single cell RNA sequencing.

Dr Cohen has over 90 publications in international medical meetings and peer reviewed journals. She in a member of the Israeli Myeloma working group and of the Israeli society of Hematology. She serves as the medical advisor for the Israeli myeloma patient association (Amen) and is a member of the ministry of health central ethics committee for clinical trials.

Prof. Eldad Dann is Director of the Blood Bank and Apheresis Unit at the Rambam Health Care Campus and Clinical Associate Professor at the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, in Haifa, Israel. He received his MD from Hadassah Medical School at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He completed residency and fellowship in Hematology in 1994 in Hadassah Ein Karem in Jerusalem Israel. He completed the clinical and research fellowship program in hemato-oncology at the University of Chicago (IL, USA). The main research interests of Prof. Dann focus on tailoring therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma. The impact of therapy on patient’s quality of life and adverse effect of therapy.

Claire Dearden is Consultant Haematologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. She trained in hematology at the Hammersmith, Royal Marsden and St George’s Hospitals in London and joined Professor Daniel Catovsky’s group to undertake research into lymphoid malignancy, taking over this role on his retirement. Her research interests focus on mature B- and T-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, and T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia. She has been involved in clinical research studies using purine analogs, monoclonal antibodies, novel therapies and stem cell transplantation in a range of lymphoproliferative diseases. She is a member of numerous societies, including the British and American Societies of Hematology, the NCRI CLL Trials group and is on the executive board of the International Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation and the Society of Haematology Oncology (SOHO). She is an editor of Blood Advances. She has authored or co-authored many book chapters and journal articles in the field of haematologic malignancy, including in The British Journal of Haematology, Blood, The Lancet, The Journal of Clinical Oncology, The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Genetics.

Barbara Eichhorst graduated at the Medical school of the University of Munich in 1997. She did her doctoral thesis in the field of hematology evaluating signalling transduction pathways in Hodgkin cells. Dr Eichhorst finished her internship at the department III for internal medicine at Klinikum Großhadern of the University of Munich and specialized in internal medicine. Since February 2005 she works at the Department I for Internal Medicine at the University hospital of Cologne, one of the largest clinics for hematology and oncology in Germany, and finished her specialisation in hematology and internal oncology. She is assistant professor and consultant since December 2012 and adjunct professor of the University of Cologne since July 2019.

Her main focus of interest is chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). As leading group member of the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG) she was and is principal investigator in several phase II and III trials evaluating treatment optimization in CLL. Since 2005 she is secretary of the GCLLSG (head Prof. Dr. Michael Hallek). Publishing many papers in the field of CLL treatment within clinical trials Barbara Eichhorst is a world-wide known specialist for CLL. She is also a member of many national and international organizations including the European Haematology association and American Society of Hematology.

• Graduation at Medical school of the Genoa University in 1 975.
• Post-graduation diploma in Internal Medicine at Pavia University and Hematology at Genoa
University
• Since 1990 till 2013, Head of Hematology and Bone marrow transplantation at S. Croce
Hospital in Cuneo – Italy
• Coordinator of the medical research department in Cuneo Hospital
• Since 2013 Hematology Professor at Sophia Antipolis University in Nice, France.
• Ince 2014 till now senior Hematology consultant at Research and Clinical Innovation
department at Lacassagne Cancer Center in Nice, France
• Author of more than 160 scientific publications cited in PubMed, and PET-imaging
addressed book or book chapters (6)
• Number of Citations according to Google Scholar: 13305; h-Index 55; i-10 index 127.
• PI of several International study on Hodgkin Lymphoma
• Since 2009 onward co-Chair with Professor Meignan of the International Workshop on
”PET scan in Lymphoma and Myeloma” (PILM), held every other year in Menton (F)
• Clinical research expertise: Hodgkin Lymphoma and PET imaging in Lymphoma.

Dr. Moshe Gatt is the director of the Hematology department at the Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem. He is also a senior lecturer of hematology. His interest is in monoclonal gammopathies, multiple myeloma and AL amyloidosis in particular.

Dr. Gatt received his medical degree from the Hebrew University School of Medicine. He then completed his residencies and fellowships at the Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, and did a research fellowship at the Jerome Lipper center for Multiple Myeloma, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Medical Center and Harvard Medical school, Boston, MA. USA.

His research interests include plasma cell dyscrasias, multiple myeloma and amyloidosis. Dr. Gatt’s work revolves around improving current diagnostic techniques for AL amyloidosis and in investigating novel methods to study this disease. He has also investigated and reported various treatments outcomes in MM, and is participating in many phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis as a Principal Investigator or Sub-Investigator. He is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications in international journals.

He has been the secretary (2012-2016) and is currently the chairman of the Israeli Multiple Myeloma Study Group.

Dr. Gertz is the Roland Seidler Jr. Professor of the Art of Medicine and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Internal Medicine, at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians. Undergraduate degree was awarded with highest distinction from Northwestern University graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Gertz received his medical degree cum laude from Loyola Medical School in Maywood, Illinois and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha the medical honor society. He completed a 3-year medical residency at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and was voted Resident of the Year for 2 of those years. He completed training in hematology and oncology at the Mayo. He was awarded the Mayo Distinguished Clinician Award for his contributions to patient care. He served 1 year term as president of the Mayo clinic staff officers and counselors. he has served as chair of the division of Hematology and chair of the department of Medicine at Mayo Clinic Rochester. He was the first treasurer of the International Society of Amyloidosis and International Myeloma Society. He has authored over 800 peer reviewed publications and over 50 book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of Amyloidosis, Acta Haematologica and Clinical Lymphoma & Myeloma. He is coeditor of Neoplastic Diseases of the Blood. In 2019 The Department of Medicine awarded him its lifetime research achievement award.

Dr. Ronit Gurion obtained an MD degree from the Tel Aviv University. She is a clinical senior lecturer.
She specialized in Internal Medicine in Meir Medical Center, and in Hematology in Rabin Medical Center.
In 2011she took a fellowship in T cell and cutaneous lymphomas in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New –York.
In the years 2014-2018, she was in charge of the Hematology residency training program in the Institute of Hematology, Rabin Medical Center.
Since August 2015, Dr. Gurion has served as Head of the Hemato-oncology Outpatient Service in Davidoff Cancer Center, Rabin Medical Center.
Her particular field of interest is lymphomas, especially T cell and cutaneous lymphomas.
With Professor Emmilia Hodak, Head of Dermatology Department at the Rabin Medical Center, she is leading an inter- disciplinary clinic for T cell cutaneous lymphomas at the Davidoff Cancer Center.
Dr. Gurion has much experience in conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis in the field of hemato-oncology.
She is in charge of the clinical trials in lymphoma in the Institute of Hematology at the Davidoff Cancer Center and participates as principal investigator in several international studies. She presents in national and international meetings and co-authored many peer –reviewed articles as well as chapters in books.

Director of Ambulatory Unit, Hematology Division  

Dr. Netanel (Nati) Horowitz was born in Haifa in 1970, graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the Technion in 1999. He completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in Hematology during the years 2001-2008. He was a research fellow at the Hem/Onc division in Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center during 2008-2010. In 2010 he came back to Israel and appointed as a senior physician at the hematology institute, Rambam Health Care Campus. In 2013 he became an associate member of the CRIR - Clinical Research Institute at Rambam, and established his own research laboratory. Dr. Horowitz is a senior clinical lecturer at the Technion, faculty of Medicine.  

Dr. Horowitz has received several prizes over the course of his career, including the Israel Cancer Association award for excellence residency in hematology in 2005 and the Dr. Alvin Hoffman Award and the Richard Klitzberg Fellowship for Oncology Study and Research Grant from the American Physician Fellowship for Medicine in Israel in 2008. He was elected as Grantee of Ofakim program for specialist physician in 2013.

 In January 2014, Dr. Horowitz was appointed as the Head of the lymphoma service at the hematology division. Since 2015, he is the director of the Ambulatory unit at the hematology division.

In 2018, he was elected to be the head of the Israeli Lymphoma Study Group in the Israel Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion.

 His research and clinical interests range from the interaction of lymphoproliferative diseases with their associated microenvironment, as well as lymphoma in unique clinical scenario (i.e. pregnancy, elderly patients etc). He has authored 34 scientific publications and book chapters.

Dr. Gilad Itchaki graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and subsequently completed his Internal Medicine residency and Hematology fellowship cum laude at Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel. He later trained at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston in the field of CLL within the lymphoma-group, and under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Brown. During this period, he also trained at the Bing Center for Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia at DFCI under Dr. Jorge Castillo and Dr. Steven Treon.

Dr. Itchaki is a senior physician at the Institute of Hematology at Rabin Medical Center, where he leads the CLL clinic and treatment of patients with indolent lymphoma including Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia. Since January 2019 he directs the Hematology fellowship training program at Rabin Medical Center. His main fields of interest include germline and somatic mutations in CLL and disease resistance mechanisms. He is the PI of several ongoing clinical trials in CLL and lymphoma and is an active member in the Israeli CLL and Lymphoma working groups, collaborating to advance research and treatment of LPD in Israel.

Prof . Dr. A.P. Kater’s fundamental, translational and clinical research as a clinical hematologist is focused on lymphatic cancer (lymphoma), particularly chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL). Together with his colleague at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam (AMC-UvA) Prof. Eric Eldering, Kater is leading a research group working towards a better understanding of the cellular and molecular processes underlying the emergence and clinical behavior of these illnesses. Together with pharma industries Dr Kater is heavily involved in developments leading to new treatment modalities. Kater was trained as an internist (hematologist) at the AMC-UvA. In 2006 he obtained his doctorate in research into cell death regulation in CLL cells.

From 2008 to 2009 he also worked as a postdoc at the Moores Cancer Center and the Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction at the University of California (San Diego, US). Kater is one of the founders of the Lymphoma and Myeloma Center Amsterdam (LYMMCARE), a specialist knowledge center where the AMC-UvA’s Clinical Hematology, Experimental Immunology and Pathology departments have joined forces since 2012. Within the Amsterdam University Medical Center (a merger of the AMC and the Vumc), he is deputy head of the Dept. of Hematology, vice-dean of the Hematology specialty program and chairman of the clinical research committee.

Kater has been awarded with grants for his research. In 2011, for example, he was awarded a large individual grant by the Dutch Cancer Society to set up his own research group. In 2019 he received an ERC Consolidator grant in order to perform studies on the interactions between CLL cells and the adaptive immune system. He also received grants from the Dutch Cancer foundation, European Union consortia, pharma-industry and various research supporting foundations.

Since September 2014, he has been chair of the Dutch CLL working group at the Hemato-Oncology Foundation for Adults in the Netherlands (HOVON) and since 2020 is member of the HOVON executive board. He is on the editor board of the journals Blood and Haematologica. He is highly active for the Dutch CLL patient advocacy foundation, giving lectures for patients and family, both at meetings and online.

Natalia Kreiniz is a young senior hematologist at Bnai Zion medical centre, Haifa, Israel and is currently working on her Master’s of Science in medicine at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in the field of biology of MM.

Primary research interests are  in the role of immunology in progression of  multiple myeloma.