2nd International Patient & Physician Summit on Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia

November 7-9, 2003, Los Angeles, CA

One hundred fifty patients with Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia joined eleven clinical investigators from across the globe at the 2nd International Workshop on WM held in Los Angeles, CA. The summit, co-hosted by Dr. Christos Emmanouilides of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, and Dr. Steven Treon of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute helped to inform patients on the most recent clinical and basic science developments in WM.

The summit opened with a brief introduction by Dr. Christos Emmanouilides welcoming everyone to the program followed by presentations giving updates and overviews about what in known about the disease. This included talks on the clinical presentation, biology, genetics, and pathology of WM by Drs. Kyle, Pilarski, Fonseca, and Said respectively. The topics then shifted to the treatment and management of WM including a talk on when to treat by Dr. Kyle and an overview of current chemotherapy and antibody therapy options including perspectives on how to decide which therapy is most appropriate was given by the summit co-chairs, Drs. Emmanouilides and Treon. The conference ended with a session devoted to new and upcoming therapies such as Zevlin, Thalidomide/Revamid, Genasense, Velcade, and vaccine therapy by Drs. Emmanouilides, Munshi, and Nichols. Also included during this time was an overview of Auto and Allogeneic transplantation in WM by Dr. Tournilhac, a talk on IgM related neuropathies by Dr. Levine, and a perspective of the impact of the new HIPPA legislation by Fred Tobia.

The 2nd International Summit on WM was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Jack Gelber of New York City who was awarded the Arnie Smokler award in celebration of his life and efforts in helping patients with WM. Mr. Gelber who led the New York City WM Support Group, was also an active board member of the IWMF, and was the editor of the "Torch", a publication devoted to bringing timely updates on WM to patients and physicians. Mr. Gelber's wife, Carol accepted the award on her late husband's behalf.

We would like to thank the Research Fund for Waldenstroms, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, Genentech, the International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation, Celgene Corporation, Berlex Laboratories, and the Doubletree Hotel-Los Angeles/Westwood for their generous support of this summit.