Biomed/Biotech SIG: Leukemia - What We Should Know

Where
9366 Gaither Rd. 1st Fl Music Room, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

When
Jul 12 6:00 pm - 8:45 pm (GMT -5:00) EST

“A Commotion in the Blood

– What We Should Know About Leukemia”

To be presented by

Ashley Ward, MD

Clinical Team Lead

Division of Hematology Products (DHP)

Office of Hematology and Oncology Products (OHOP)

Oncology Center for Excellence (OCE), US FDA

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Venue: 9366 Gaither Rd. “1st Floor Music Room”, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 (CCACC)

6:00 – 6:20 PM – Networking; Pizza/drink

6:20 – 8:50 PM – Program

8:50 – 9:00 PM – Door-prizes drawing; Networking

Online Registration site: http://www.asq509.org/ht/d/DoSurvey/i/35817

Open to Public –

$5: non-ASQ members to cover pizza/drink cost;

Free: ASQ members, current job-seekers, CCACC volunteers/employees/members, veterans, senior citizens, past speakers, US PHS Commissioned Corp officers, teachers, students, interns, residents, postdocs, FDA Commissioner’s Fellows, MJ-DC members, NTUAADC members, CAPA members, NTMUADC members, CKUAADC members, NTHUAADC members, NJTUAADC members, FAPAC members, CBA members, AAGEN members, NCARSQA members, OCA-DC members, AAMB members, ACAP members, DC Leaders Club members, BioTrain volunteers, and all Tai-Chi classes students in the Metropolitan Washington DC.

Registration Deadline: Please register by Thursday noon, July 12, 2018.

Question: Please contact Dr. C.J. George Chang, Chair of Biomed/Biotech SIG, ASQ509; gchang2008@yahoo.com or 240-793-8425 (cell).

Driving directions: By Cars: From I-270 (N or S bound): Take Exit 8 onto Shady Grove Dr. Drive toward east and turn left onto Gaither Rd. The building is on your left after passing a stop sign. By Metro rail: Exit at the Red Line Shady Grove Station.

Summary

Leukemia is a collection of cancers that begin in blood cells in the bone marrow. While relatively rare in adults compared to other types of cancer (e.g., lung, breast), it is the most common cancer in children and is the cause of over 350,000 global deaths per year. Leukemia was universally fatal with no available treatments until the late 1940s when Dr. Sidney Farber, a pathologist at Harvard Medical School, administered the first chemotherapy to children with leukemia and got them into a temporary remission. Since that time, regular advances in leukemia therapy have led to long-term survival rates exceeding 50% in adults and 90% in children.

In this presentation, Dr. Ward will explain the different types of leukemia (acute versus chronic, myeloid versus lymphoid) and what that means with respect to treatment and long-term outcomes. She will describe how the diagnosis of leukemia is made, and what the experience of leukemia treatment is like for the patient, their family members, and the physician. Finally, Dr. Ward will summarize what is known about the epidemiology of leukemia (who gets leukemia and why), as well as available treatment options, from widely used and very effective chemotherapy agents to new and targeted scientifically advanced therapies that have in some cases dramatically extended life expectancy.

Speaker

Dr. Ashley Ward is pediatric oncologist and clinical team leader in the Office of Oncology and Hematology Products at the Oncology Center for Excellence (OCE), U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Her work focuses on the evaluation of investigational new drug applications (INDs) and marketing applications (NDAs and BLAs) for drugs for the treatment of cancer, and she specializes in acute leukemia, melanoma, and sarcoma.

Previously, Dr. Ward was an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she cared for patients, taught medical students, residents, and fellows, and studied the role of individual Ras effector pathways in the development of myeloid malignancies in the laboratory. She also spent several years as a medical director in the early clinical development group at Genentech, where she led the development teams for several small molecules and antibody-drug conjugates through early phase testing for hematologic malignancies and breast cancer.

Dr. Ward received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Swarthmore College and her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine. She completed her residency and chief residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and her fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, CA.

This event is cosponsored by Chinese Culture and Community Service Center, Inc. (CCACC, www.ccacc-dc.org), NTU Alumni Association DC Chapter (www.ntuaadc.org), and Chinese American Professionals Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC (www.capadc.org).