Congratulations to Professor John Gribben, Lead for the Centre for Haemato-Oncology, Barts Cancer Institute (BCI; Queen Mary University of London), who has been announced as the new President for the European Hematology Association (EHA). The Presidency was handed over to Professor Gribben on the 16th June, the final day of the 24th EHA Congress. Professor Gribben has held the position of President Elect of the EHA for the last 2 years, and will now hold the position of President for the next 2 years.

Speaking of his new role as President, Professor Gribben said:

It is a real honour for me to take on the role of President of the European Hematology Association for the next two years. In these challenging times for the UK, with our strong links with our European colleagues we will look to progress all aspects of clinical and translational research, education and advocacy to further the field of Hematology.

The EHA is the largest association in Europe serving haematologists, advocating for excellence in patient care, research and education in haematology. The EHA works with the haematology societies of each European country, connecting haematologists worldwide to promote greater access to treatments for patients, increase investment into haematology research and ensure that the voice of haematologists is heard on EU legislation and regulation.

The 24th EHA Congress

This year’s annual EHA Congress was held on the 13th-16th June in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It was the largest EHA Congress ever recorded, with more than 12,000 haematologists from 41 European countries and 82 non-European countries in attendance this year (more than one thousand additional participants than last year).

Once again this year, there was a strong presence from researchers from the BCI’s Centre for Haemato-Oncology. Poster presentations were given by Professor Gribben, Group Leader Dr Jessica Okosun, Clinical Research Fellow (CRF) Emil Kumar and PhD student Arantxa Romero Toledo. CRFs James Heward and Robin Sanderson gave oral presentations about their work.

The 4-day programme combined a broad range of presentations on clinical and basic haematology research topics, with 360 presentations from invited speakers, 197 oral presentations and 1,351 poster presentations in total.