Inmunoterapia & Hemopatías 2022

Graduate and Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the UAB Consultant Assistant Doctor. Hospital del Mar. IMIM Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine UAB/UPF

JM Sancho completed his MD at the University of Navarra in 1992, and a residency in Haematology at the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Barcelona. Dr Sancho focused his research in lymphoproliferative disorders, achieving a PhD from the Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona. He is specialist in Hematology-Hemotherapy, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona. Dr.Sancho is coordinator of the Clinical Hematology Department of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and works in the Deparment of Haematology at the Germans Trias I Pujol University Hospital in Badalona, Spain. Also, he is Principal Investigator at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in the grup of Lymphoid Neoplasms. He will contribute to the data base elaboration and will supervise clinical aspects of the project. He is author or co-author of articles and books’ chapters about lymphomas, ALL and stem cell transplantation. Dr. Sancho is the principal investigator in many phases I to IV clinical trials on lymphoproliferative disorders. He is member of the Spanish Society of Haematology (SEHH) and Spanish Lymphoma Group (GELTAMO).

He was born in Barcelona. In 1984 he graduated in Biology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and received his PhD in Biology in 1988 from the same university. She completed her thesis at the Department of Cell Biology under the supervision of María Dolors Coll and María Rosa Caballín. From 1988 she worked at the Hospital Creu Roja in Barcelona under the supervision of Dr. Soledad Woessner. In 1991 he moved to Hospital Central l’Aliança (Barcelona) and in 1997 he moved to Hospital del Mar, Barcelona. From 2000 to 2012 she was Head of Section in the Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics Laboratory and in October 2012 she moved to the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, ICO-Germans Trias i Pujol Campus, Badalona (Barcelona). Dr. Sole is currently the Coordinator of the ICO-GTiPl Campus at the IJC, Coordinator of the Cytogenetics Platform and Principal Investigator of the MDS Group.
Dr. Solé is one of the world’s leading authorities on Cytogenetics in Myelodysplasia. He participated in the recent IPSS-R. Dr. Solé is a reviewer for the following journals: Blood, Leukemia, Genes Chromosomes and Cancer, Haematologica, Leukemia Research, Leukemia and Lymphoma. He is an associate professor at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. From 1996 to 2008 he was coordinator of the Spanish Working Group on Cytogenetics in Haematology. From 2004 to 2012 he was a member of the Eurogenest Haematology Cytogenetic Quality Control Steering Committee.

Blanca Xicoy is an attending physician in the Clinical Department of Hematology at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO)- Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and mainly attends patients diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative disorders.

She is joint group leader of the Genetics and Epigenetics of Myeloid Neoplasms Group with Dr Lurdes Zamora.  The research group works on several projects of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC) together with Francesc Solé’s team in the field of myelodysplastic syndromes.

Dr Xicoy received her MD from the University of Barcelona Medical School. She trained as a resident in Hematology-Hemotherapy at Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital from 1997 to 2001. She completed her PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona with a Doctoral Thesis “Response to treatment and prognosis of classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma in advanced stage and human immunodeficiency virus associated Burkitt’s lymphoma/leukemia”.

Between 2013-2014, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Hämatologie, Onkologie und klinische Immunologie, Heinrich-Heine Universitätsklinikum from Düsseldorf, Germany as an attending physician in the Myelodysplastic, Myeloproliferative and Acute leukemia section and doing research in these fields at the Düsseldorfer MDS-Register.  

Xicoy’s research focuses on the study of clinical aspects and biological mechanisms of myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative disorders

Doctor in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona (extraordinary award), specialist in Hematology and Hemotherapy after completing his residency at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona.

Research Fellow at the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at MD Anderson Center, Houston, Texas, USA (1995-1906). Member of different national and international working groups and committees, among which stand out: Executive Committee of the International Follicular Lymphoma Prognostic Factors Project, Board of Directors of the International extranodal Lymphomas Study Group, member of the European Mantle Cell Lymphoma Network and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Molecular profiling Project. Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Lymphoma Group (GELTAMO). Author of more than 300 scientific articles in the field of lymphoproliferative syndromes (more than 23000 citations; index h 68), as well as more than 25 books and book chapters. Principal Investigator (PI) in more than 20 national and international research projects, as well as collaborator in more than 50. PI in more than 50 clinical trials in phases 1, 2 and 3. Professor in four postgraduate Masters; organizer and lecturer in numerous national and international courses.

Scientific dedication focused on lymphomas, with two lines of research: a) a clinical one (study of clinical / biological prognostic factors and new therapies in lymphomas, i.e. design and participation in clinical trials with major national and international groups [Lysa, EMCLN and hiLO] ib) other applied research (Translational research). Regarding the latter, projects on minimal residual disease, cell cycle regulation, the role of the microenvironment in lymphomas, gene expression and mutational profiling in lymphoproliferative syndromes stand out. Of course, the healthcare activity reaches not only lymphoproliferative syndromes, but all hematological diseases, particularly malignant ones, with special interest in new individualized therapies Currently Senior Consultant physician in the Hematology Service of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, where he is a reference physician in lymphomas and other lymphoproliferative syndromes.

Beatriz Bellosillo is the Head of the Molecular Biology laboratory at the Pathology Department of Hospital del Mar, in Barcelona, Spain, and she is an associate professor at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona. She is an experienced molecular biologist with expertise in translational research in Hematology and Oncology areas.

She studied Pharmacy from 1988-1993 and completed her PhD studies from 1993- 1999 in the University of Barcelona. Since joining the Hospital del Mar (Barcelona) in 2001, she has developed the molecular diagnostic area in the Pathology Department and actively participated in the implementation of the Tissue Bank.

Her scientific interest has focused in the last years on the assessment of molecular alterations and other biomarkers involved in haematological malignancies and solid tumors, with a special emphasis on the implementation of the liquid biopsy for studying solid tumors. She has studied the role of molecular biomarkers to determine the diagnosis and prognosis of patients and also their predictive value. Dr. Bellosillo has participated in more than 50 research projects related to these issues, as principal investigator in 12 of them. As a result of the activity in this field, she has published more than 180 articles in peer-review international journals (H-factor 44) and is the co-inventor of 2 patents.

Coordinator of the Lymphoma Unit of the Hematology and Hemotherapy Service of the Institut Catalá d’Oncologia de Barcelona and Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the Central University of Barcelona.

Her main activity is focused on lymphoid neoplasms. She works actively in the Spanish Lymphoma Group (GELTAMO), is a member of the scientific committee and has been responsible for the Aggressive Lymphoma group, and is part of the Spanish Group of Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia (GELLC). He has participated in more than 80 clinical trials in lymphoid neoplasms in the last 10 years.

Dr. Albert Altés, head of the Hematology Service of the Althaia Foundation, is from this week the new president of the Catalan Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy. Dr. Altés has been elected to head this Catalan entity that brings together medical professionals linked to hematology, a medical specialty dedicated to the diagnosis, treatment, study and research of blood diseases. His appointment responds to his extensive professional career in the fields of health care, teaching and research.

Dr. Albert Altés, who holds a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Barcelona (UB) and a PhD in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), is a specialist in hematology and hemotherapy and an expert in new hemato-oncological therapies. He has worked as an assistant hematologist at the Espiritu Santo Hospital in Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Santo Pablo Hospital in Barcelona. Since 2008 he has been the head of the Hematology and Hemotherapy Service at the Althaia Foundation.

In the teaching field, he is an associate professor of the degree in Medicine at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC). Regarding research and investigation, he has published more than 150 research papers in international indexed journals.

Dr. Altés is also president and founder of the Spanish Society of Hemochromatosis and Founder of the European Federation of Hemochromatosis Associations.

The lines of work of his presidency will focus on promoting knowledge networks between Catalan hematologists and scientific institutions everywhere, facilitating research and research activity for associates with the creation of a consultation system of active clinical trials in Catalonia, consolidating the digital communication model that emerged as a result of the pandemic and giving continuity to training sessions and updating knowledge. Also to create explanatory materials on different procedures in hematology aimed at patients and their families and to translate into Catalan the guidelines of the Spanish society of the specialty.

Dr. Joan Bargay Lleonart has more than 25 years of experience and his name is undoubtedly a key reference in the specialty of Hematology and Hemotherapy in the Balearic Islands. He is a specialist in the clinical management of onco-haematological diseases, with special interest in MDS/AML, myeloma, lymphoma and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

His professional career since 2001 has been linked to the Son Llátzer Hospital as Head of the Hematology and Hemotherapy Service and Director of the Research Unit.

Dr. María José Calasanz (Tafalla, Navarra, 1959) studied Biology at the University of Navarra and received her PhD from the same university in 1988. Cima Lab Diagnostics, the laboratory she co-directs, has already performed more than 80,000 genetic analyses requested by hospitals and health centers. At present, they receive more than 10,000 patient samples a year from all over Spain and other countries to perform genetic diagnoses of leukemias, lymphomas and other genetic diseases with the most advanced, precise and efficient technologies.

This laboratory of the University of Navarra is a national reference center in hematological neoplasms and provides technical support to national research groups and Thematic Cancer Networks (RTICC). The availability of this laboratory in Navarra allows patients with cancer and leukemia to have a rapid and accurate diagnosis that facilitates the success of their treatment and cure.

Professor María José Calasanz has taught Biostatistics, Experimental Design, Genetics and Cytogenetics for more than 30 years to biologists, biochemists and physicians. She has supervised more than a dozen doctoral theses, has published more than 200 articles in international journals and has been invited to give more than 250 scientific conferences around the world. He has four six-year research periods and belongs to a large number of national and international Scientific Societies and Expert Commissions.