ATLANTA, GA – Myron S. Czuczman, MD, Chief of the Lymphoma/Myeloma Service, and Member of the Tumor Immunology Program, Departments of Medicine and Immunology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), will co-moderate the session titled “Lymphoma: Therapy with Biologic Agents, Excluding Pre-Clinical Models I,” at the 47^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, (ASH), December 10-13, Atlanta, GA. The session is scheduled for Monday, December 12, 11 am – 12:30 pm, Room B405- B407, Georgia World Congress Center.

The session which will feature select presentations on biological therapies – treatments which direct the body’s own disease fighting capabilities to treat cancer and are associated with fewer side effects than purely chemotherapy-based cancer treatments. Biological therapies can boost, direct, or restore the natural defenses against disease and may include monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), radioimmunotherapies, interferons, vaccines, anti-angiogenesis and gene therapies. Abstracts selected for oral and poster presentations feature cutting-edge research and are considered the best of the thousands submitted for the 2005 ASH Annual Meeting.  

At RPCI, Dr. Czuczman’s research interests focus on monoclonal antibodies either alone or in combination with other agents in the treatment of lymphoid neoplasms, evaluating the significance of minimal residual disease in lymphoid malignancies and the study of the immunophenotype of lymphoid neoplasms by multiparameter flow cytometry. His clinical research has contributed to the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the first monoclonal therapy – Rituxan – for non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1997. This also was the first new treatment developed for this disease in 10 years.

Dr. Czuczman is a member of the American Society of Hematology, American Association of Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American College of Physicians. He also serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Lymphoma Guidelines Panel, the NCCN Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Outcomes Database Panel and the Lymphoma Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) cooperative group.

The American Society of Hematology strives to further the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting the blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic and vascular systems, by promoting research, clinical care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment, and education center and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. RPCI is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers. For more information, visit RPCI’s website at www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or email askrpci@roswellpark.org.

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