GVHD Symposium
2023 Event
2023 GVHD National Symposium
Held: Friday, October 13th, 2023 from 8am – 5pm
Location: Embassy Suites by Hilton, Cleveland Rockside Independence, OH
2023 GVHD Symposium Presentations
Opening Remarks
Gerald Cowden
5 minutes
Keynote Presentation
Lung GVHD: Current Challenges & Future Hope
Gregory Yanik, MD
51 minutes
Naïve T Cell-Depletion
Marie Bleakley, MD, PhD, MMSC
48 minutes
Knowledge Check: Liver GVHD
Hannah Choe, MD
47 minutes
Systemic Treatment with the Janus Kinase Inhibitor Baricitinib in Ocular Chronic GVHD
M. Teresa Magone, MD
45 minutes
BMT Survivorship: The Journey Continues After the Treatment Ends
Rachel Phelan, MD, MPH
41 minutes
AI and Photography in Skin GVHD Assessment
Eric Tkaczyk, MD, PhD, FAAD
32 minutes
Keynote Speaker
Gregory A. Yanik, MD
Mott Children’s Hospital
Dr. Gregory Yanik has been a faculty member within the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Division at the University of Michigan since 1992. He was born and raised in the Detroit area, attended medical school at Wayne State University and trained in hematology-oncology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He and his wife Marybeth have three grown children. Dr. Yanik has been the recipient of many prestigious awards in recognition of his contributions to medical research, clinical care, and education, including the Leland and Elaine Blatt Professorship of Pediatric Oncology, the University of Michigan Pediatric Teacher of the Year Award, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Chairman’s Citation for Outstanding Service. Academically, he has made sentinel contributions in two areas of research: a) acute and chronic lung injury post-hematopoietic cell transplant, and b) developing novel transplant trials for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. In addition to these many activities, Dr. Yanik makes time to serve on the Executive Committee for Make a Wish Michigan.
2023 Meredith A. Cowden Foundation Annual Sponsor
GVHD Symposium Sponsors
Patient Advocacy Symposium Sponsors
Institutional Sponsors
Planning Commitee
Steven Z. Pavletic, MD, MS
National Cancer Institute / NIH
Dr. Pavletic received his M.D. from the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in Croatia in 1979. In 1992, he completed a clinical fellowship in bone marrow transplantation at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington Medical School in Seattle, WA. In 1995, he completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha, NE, and completed his hematology and oncology fellowship in June 1997. Until October 2002, Dr. Pavletic served as the director of the Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation Program at UNMC. In 2002, Dr. Pavletic received an appointment at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and an adjunct appointment at the National Institute for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at NIH. Currently, he is the head of the Graft-versus-Host and Autoimmunity Unit in the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch. In October 2006, Dr. Pavletic received the NCI Director’s award for his achievements in developing national and international consensus guidelines for clinical trials in chronic GVHD.
Matt Kalaycio, MD, FACP
Cleveland Clinic
Matt Kalaycio, MD, FACP, is Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute. Dr. Kalaycio holds a joint appointment in Cleveland Clinic’s Transplant Center and is a Professor in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Board-certified in hematology, Dr. Kalaycio’s clinical interests are in leukemia and stem cell transplantation.
Dr. Kalaycio has been published in numerous scientific publications including Bone Marrow Transplantation, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Leukemia. He serves on the editorial board of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He also is the editor of a book on leukemia and co-editor of a book on clinical malignant hematology. His research interests focus on testing new treatments for leukemia.
Dr. Kalaycio received his degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine in Morgantown. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh and fellowships in hematology and medical oncology and bone marrow transplantation at Cleveland Clinic.
Kenneth R. Cooke, MD
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center
Dr. Cooke is Director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Program. Prior to his appointment at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Cooke headed the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, in Cleveland, Ohio. He also co-directed the Hematologic Disorders Program of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University.
A nationally recognized transplantation immunology expert, Dr. Cooke focuses primarily on new strategies to prevent and treat graft-vs-host disease and lung complications following blood and bone marrow transplantation. His research efforts have been recognized by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the American Society of Clinical Investigation. In addition to his younger patients, Dr. Cooke also cares for adolescents and young adults.
Marcos, De Lima, MD
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Marcos de Lima is Professor of Medicine, Ohio State University, and Director of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy programs at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. He has extensive experience developing and conducting clinical trials in the context of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for myeloid malignancies. His research focus on strategies to prevent leukemia relapse after transplant, and the development of novel translational cellular therapy approaches to treating blood cancers.
Hien Liu, MD
Moffitt Cancer Center
Dr. Hien Liu is Medical Director of the Apheresis Unit and an Associate Member in the Moffitt Cancer Center Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy. Dr. Liu earned her MD from the University of Michigan Medical School. She completed an Internal Medicine Residency at Michigan State University/Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center. Dr. Liu completed a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where she also served as Chief Fellow. Prior to joining Moffitt, Dr. Liu was an Assistant Professor at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Associate Member at Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Liu is an experienced blood and marrow transplant physician, specializing in autologous and allogeneic transplant for lymphoid malignancies, as well as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. Her clinical and research interests include peripheral blood stem cell mobilization strategies, leukapheresis for CAR T, and therapeutic photopheresis. Dr. Liu leads the Moffitt Apheresis Unit, where peripheral blood stem cell collections for hematopoietic stem cell transplant donors and cellular therapy patients are performed. In addition, she is part of the team of lymphoma physicians who see and perform CAR T-cell therapy for lymphoid cancers.
Annie Im, MD
UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Annie Im, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and a hematologist/medical oncologist specializing and conducting research in hematologic malignancies (such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma), drug development, stem cell transplantation, and graft-versus-host-disease. In addition, Dr. Im is responsible for the long-term follow-up of stem cell transplant recipients and the chronic graft-versus-host-disease clinic.
Dr. Im is board-certified in internal medicine, hematology, and medical oncology. She received her medical degree from SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine in Stony Brook, N.Y. Dr. Im completed both her residency in internal medicine and her hematology/oncology fellowship at UPMC.
Dr. Im is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.
Betty Hamilton, MD
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Betty Ky Hamilton is the Associate Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Assistant Professor of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Hamilton received her medical degree from the University of Chicago and internal medicine residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her hematology/oncology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and subsequently joined as a Staff Physician in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology. Dr. Hamilton’s clinical and research interests focus on the treatment of hematologic malignancies with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation; and improving outcomes post-allogeneic hematopoietic cell treatment, specifically in graft-versus-host disease and long-term follow up and survivorship.
Hannah Choe, MD
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Hannah Choe (pronounced Hah-nah Cheh) is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Choe received her Doctor of Medicine from Indiana University School of Medicine and then went on to complete internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Southern California and her fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College within the New York Presbyterian Hospital. She is the Director of The Ohio State University GVHD Program, which specializes in the research and complex care and coordination of acute and chronic GVHD patients.
Zachariah DeFilipp, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Dr. Zachariah DeFilipp is an attending physician in the Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cell Therapy Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He serves as the Director of BMT Clinical Research and is an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. DeFilipp is actively involved in translational and clinical research initiatives to improve outcomes for patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. His research has primarily focused on developing approaches to preventing and treating graft-versus-host disease. His other research efforts have explored improving transplant outcomes for high-risk leukemia through the incorporation of targeted agents in the pre- and post-transplant, as well as examining late effects following long-term transplant survivors.