NEWS & EVENTS

Sickle Cell in Focus Conference 2017

October 26 - 27 , 2017
Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Jamaica West Indies

Description

The 11th annual SCiF conference will be co-hosted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and The University of West Indies. 

After another successful event at the NIH/NHLBI, USA in June 2016, we are pleased to announce that Sickle Cell in Focus (SCiF) will be held for the first-time in Kingston, Jamaica on October 26-27, 2017. The 11th annual SCiF conference will be co-hosted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and The University of West Indies.

SCiF is a two-day, intensive, educational update on sickle cell disease. This year’s conference will focus on the latest clinical trials, the science and mechanisms for new therapeutic targets, and curative therapies. At the end of each day, there will also be two debates which will focus on topical issues for which there is no clear answer.

This two-day intensive educational conference is geared towards clinicians, academics, and other healthcare professionals involved in sickle cell disease around the world.

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Agenda

8:00am
-
Registration

9:00am
-
Welcome and Introduction

Speaker: TBD

9:05am
-
Worldwide impact of SCD

SESSION ONE: Evolution of SCD- Where are we now?

Graham Serjeant

Sickle Cell Trust, Kingston, Jamaica

9:35am
-
Newborn screening and early childhood care, integration into public health rather than academic settings

SESSION ONE: Evolution of SCD- Where are we now?

Jennifer Knight-Madden

University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

10:05am
-
Point-of-care testing for SCD

SESSION ONE: Evolution of SCD- Where are we now?

Speaker: Carolyn Hoppe

Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland, Oakland, CA

10:35am
-
BREAK

10:50am
-
Clinical manifestations and complications in adult.

SESSION TWO: Clinical Management (I) – Challenges in Adult care

Jo Howard

Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

11:20am
-
Pulmonary/cardiac complications

SESSION TWO: Clinical Management (I) – Challenges in Adult care

Elizabeth Klings

Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

11:50am
-
Neurological complications

SESSION TWO: Clinical Management (I) – Challenges in Adult care

James Casella

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA 

12:20pm
-
LUNCH

1:20pm
-
Challenges in pain management

SESSION THREE: Clinical Management (II)- Challenges in Adult Care

Patrick Carroll

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

1:50pm
-
Hydroxyurea- Expanding hydroxyurea therapy

SESSION THREE: Clinical Management (II)- Challenges in Adult Care

Jane Hankins

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

2:20pm
-
Blood transfusion- when and how to transfuse

SESSION THREE: Clinical Management (II)- Challenges in Adult Care

Ross Fasano

Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

2:50pm
-
How I manage renal complications

SESSION THREE: Clinical Management (II)- Challenges in Adult Care

Monika Asnani

University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

3:20pm
-
BREAK

3:35am
-
Targeting HbS polymerization

SESSION FOUR: New Disease-Modifying Drugs

William Eaton

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

4:05pm
-
Pro: Tom Williams

DEBATE 1: Advancing clinical care to developing countries - Research should be home-grown rather than imported

KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya

4:25pm
-
Con: Isaac Odame

DEBATE 1: Advancing clinical care to developing countries - Research should be home-grown rather than imported

The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

4:45pm
-
Debate

5:05pm
-
DAY ONE CLOSE

8:00am
-
Registration

8:55am
-
Welcome and Introduction

Speaker: TBD

9:00am
-
New Insights in pathophysiology of SCD and development of therapies targeting pathways downstream of sickling

SESSION FOUR (Cont.): New Disease-Modifying Drugs

Marvin Reid

University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

9:30am
-
Pharmacological induction of HbF

SESSION FOUR (Cont.): New Disease-Modifying Drugs

Yogen Saunthararajah

Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA

10:00am
-
BREAK

10:15am
-
Genetic approaches for increasing HbF- gene addition, shRNA, chromosome looping

SESSION FIVE: Curative Therapies

Mitch Weiss

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

​10:45pm
-
Genetic corrections- genome editing, lentiviral

SESSION FIVE: Curative Therapies

Giuliana Ferrari

Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy 

11:15am
-
Allogeneic transplants- matched and haplo-identical

SESSION FIVE: Curative Therapies

Courtney Fitzhugh

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

11:45am
-
LUNCH

12:45pm
-
Microfluidic characterization of SCD biorheology

SESSION SIX: New Approaches to studying sickle erythrocyte rheology

Wilbur Lam

Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

 

 

1:15pm
-
Biorheology of RBCs through the spleen- towards an understanding of splenic pathology

SESSION SIX: New Approaches to studying sickle erythrocyte rheology

Pierre Buffet

Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

1:45pm
-
Point-of care monitoring of RBS adhesion as marker of disease severity and monitoring therapy

SESSION SIX: New Approaches to studying sickle erythrocyte rheology

Umut Gurkan

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

2:15pm
-
Sickle trait: Is it completely harmless? - An overview of evidence on exertion related events

SESSION SEVEN: A better understanding towards sickle cell trait

Francis O’Connor

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA

2:45pm
-
HbAS with sickle complications- a diagnostic challenge

SESSION SEVEN: A better understanding towards sickle cell trait

Swee Lay Thein

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

3:15pm
-
Sickle Cell Trait- impact on coagulation and kidneys

SESSION SEVEN: A better understanding towards sickle cell trait

Rakhi Prakash Naik

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

3:45pm
-
BREAK

4:00pm
-
Pro: Arun Shet

DEBATE 2: One clot in a patient with SCD justifies life-long anti- coagulation

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

4:20pm
-
Con: Theodore Wun

DEBATE 2: One clot in a patient with SCD justifies life-long anti- coagulation

VA Northern California Health Care System/ UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, Sacramento, CA, USA

4:40pm
-
Debate

5:00pm
-
CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

Collaborators
  • The University of West Indies