Program

Lectures

Mortimer M. Bortin Lecture

The Mortimer M. Bortin Lecture commemorates the Founding Scientific Director of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, now the CIBMTR. Dr. Bortin’s foresight and dedication were critical to the development of the CIBMTR as a global resource for HCT research.

2025 Lecturer: Sergio A. Giralt, MD

About Dr. Sergio Giralt

Dr. Giralt received his medical degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and after residency training in Cincinnati completed his hematology-oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) where he began his HCT career in 1990 as a BMT Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Champlin.

His research contributions in the field span 6 different areas. Together with the MDACC Leukemia Group they developed the first response adapted strategy for CML and demonstrated that prior interferon did not affect HCT outcomes (Giralt SA, et al. J Clin Oncol. 1993; Lee SJ et al Blood. 2001). Second, Dr. Giralt pioneered the use of reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) for older and debilitated patients and in 1997 published the results of the first clinical trial of RIC HCT in myeloid malignancies (Giralt S, et al Blood. 1997) Third, Dr. Giralt has developed strategies to prevent or treat relapse post-HCT. Together with Drs. Bishop, Kroeger and Wayne they organized the International Workshops on the Biology, Prevention and Treatment of Relapse post-HCT. Fourth, together with Drs Cleeland and Wang they identified the role of interleukin 6 and the relationship of symptom burden with HCT outcomes and has pioneered various strategies to reduce symptom burden post HCT (acupuncture, light therapy and IL6 blockade). Fifth, he has led the development of novel conditioning regimens for autologous and allogeneic HCT in patients with myeloma and myeloid leukemias such as fludarabine-melphalan and more recently apamistamab. Dr. Giralt has been heavily involved in developing and supporting collaborative clinical and translational research and has served in multiple leadership positions including Chair of the CIBMTR Advisory Board (2006); Chair of the BMT CTN Steering Committee and President of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplant. He has mentored many leaders in the field and has worked closely with international colleagues to help develop cellular therapies in their countries particularly Latin America. He continues to be active in clinical research and patient care and focuses his clinical research on strategies to increase access and improve outcomes of transplant and other cellular therapies.

2025 Lecture: Something Funny Happened On My Way to Tandem

Dr. Giralt will be summarizing how the research teams at MD Anderson Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have changed the transplant practice in the past three decades and what he sees for the future.

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E. Donnall Thomas Lecture

The E. Donnall Thomas Lecture recognizes an eminent physician or scientist, either a clinician or an investigator, who has contributed meritoriously to the advancement of knowledge in blood and marrow transplantation.

2025 Lecturer: Robert Zeiser, MD

About Dr. Robert Zeiser

Robert Zeiser is Full Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Tumor Immunology at the Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Stem-Cell Transplantation at the Medical Center-University of Freiburg in Freiburg, Germany. In the last ten years Robert Zeiser has translated multiple therapeutic approaches from the mouse model into a clinical application in the fields of GVHD and leukemia immunotherapy. He translated the finding that ruxolitinib is highly effective against GVHD in mice (Blood 2014) into two new FDA approved therapies for patients with acute GVHD (NEJM 2020) or chronic GVHD (NEJM 2021) together with a team of other researchers. For his translational work Robert received the German Cancer Award 2021, which is the highest Award for Cancer Research in Germany. Roberts lab also discovered that glucagon like peptide-2 leads to intestinal regeneration during acute GVHD (Blood 2020). This concept was then translated into a clinical trial using GLP2 for patients with intestinal GVHD (Clinical Trial NCT05415410), the study results were just reported at ASH 2024. The group of Robert Zeiser could show that MDM2 targeting enhances the anti-leukemia immune response has led to a clinical trial for leukemia patients (Clinical Trial NCT05447663). In earlier work Roberts lab characterized the role of danger signals and neutrophils in GVHD which was reported in two publications in Nature Medicine (2010, 2014). In 2023 Professor Zeiser received an ERC Advanced grant, the most prestigious and competitive funding scheme for researchers in Europe. He is Director of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1479 that includes 17 research groups and investigates oncogene driven immune escape mechanisms. His lab is currently pursuing multiple projects that delineate the connection between oncogenic signaling and immune escape of leukemia. Several former students from Robert lab have received prestigious awards and became Full Professors.

2025 Lecture: Immune Mediated Side Effects and Cancer Immune Escape After Immunotherapy

The lecture will provide spotlights on developments in the understanding of the pathophysiology and treatment of three immune mediated side effects that occur after cancer immunotherapy. These include acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), CAR T cell induced Immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) and immune checkpoint inhibitor induced colitis (ICI colitis). Communalities and differences between these entities will be presented and discussed. Therapies that were developed based on pre-clinical studies will be shown and their mechanism of action will be connected to the pathophysiology of the immune mediated side effects.

The second part of the lecture is dedicated to cancer immune escape. Spotlight will be on immune escape via MHC class II down regulation, inhibitory TIM-3 ligands, TGF-beta and lactic acid that impair elimination of cancer cells after immunotherapy. The lecture will discuss the scientific hypothesis that oncogenic signaling and immune escape mechanisms are closely connected and provide examples showing the crosstalk between oncogenic signals and immunosuppressive mechanisms with therapeutic implications.

The summary will include examples for the successful translation from the mouse model into a clinical trial in the fields of immune mediated side effects and cancer immune escape.

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