Jane Apperley qualified
in Medicine from the University of Birmingham in 1979 and completed specialist
training in haematology in Birmingham, London and Cambridge. Throughout this
time she developed an interest in stem cell transplantation (SCT), and by
default in chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), which was the primary indication
for SCT in the 1990s. She spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow at the
Children’s Hospital in Boston, USA, training in gene transfer and therapy. She
returned to the Hammersmith Hospital in 1993, was given a personal chair in
Haemato-Oncology in 2002, and became the Clinical Director for Clinical
Haematology at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and the Chair of the Centre
of Haematology at the Imperial College in 2003/4. Her interests remain the
biology and management of CML, and her group at the Imperial College has
extensive experience in the use of first, second and third generation tyrosine
kinase inhibitors, particularly in the areas of molecular monitoring, mechanisms
of drug resistance and adverse events. She has a long-standing interest in the
impact of haematological diseases and their treatment on fertility, pregnancy
and foetal outcome. She has been a member of the ELN CML Working Party since
the creation of the ELN in 2004 and has been involved with the ELN Consensus
Guidelines since the first recommendations in 2006, initially as the ‘expert’
in SCT. She has also been a member of the UK NCRI CML study group for >20
years. Some years ago this group recognised that there were issues in the
management of CML peculiar to the UK because of the influence of NICE and the
need for financial restraint, and under the leadership of Graeme Smith (Leeds)
developed the current BCSH guidelines.
I have been
working in the hematology department of the CHU UCL Namur-site Mont-Godinne
since 1988. Since 2017, I have held the
position of care coordinator in hematology and I am in charge of transplant
coordination.
I am a pediatrician and pediatric hematologist-oncologist working in the
Ghent University Hospital, and associate lecturer at the Ghent University, with
specific expertise in leukemia, myelodysplasia and bone marrow
failure. I’m an active member of international collaborative groups in these
fields of expertise (such as I-BFM, EORTC-Children’s Leukemia Group, NOPHO
DBH-AML consortium, EWOG-MDS etc), and Belgian principal investigator of
several academic multicenter trials and early phase studies including cellular
therapy in pediatric leukemia.
Johan De Munter graduated as a nurse in 2001
and worked for several years on an oncology and haematology ward. In 2006 he
moved to a private hospital that wanted to focus on a completely new role in
cancer nursing in Belgium. In 2010 he transferred to the University Hospital
Ghent, where he continues to work as a nurse consultant in the haematology/stem
cell transplant unit. Some time ago he continued his career pathway as an
assistant nurse manager of the cancer centre at the university hospital. His
professional interests include patient & nurse education, supportive care
needs, survivorship & palliative care, and Adolescent and Young Adults
(AYA) cancer care. He is involved in the Flemish Society for Radiology
and Oncology Nurses, a position in the Belgian Haematology Society’s nurses
committee, and has is member of the SIOPE (European Society for Paediatric
Oncology) AYA Committee . He is a board member of the Majin home in Ghent,
which supports people with cancer and their loved ones. Over a decade he was
member EONS (European Oncology Nursing Society) advocacy wg, was chair of EONS
communication WG and is currently EONS president elect.
Martine Heylens is a hematopoietic stem cell
transplant nurse in the Haematology Department at the Academic Hospital ‘UZ’-
Leuven, with specific expertise and interest in CAR-T cells. She is the
co-founder of the BHS Nurses Committee, of witch she is the current
vice-president after 5 years of presiding. She periodically joins the Advice
Board on Car-T cells.
Jan Loos volgde zijn studies tot
arts aan de Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven en studeerde af in 2014. Hij
vervolledigt op dit moment zijn opleiding tot Hematoloog aan het UZ Leuven. Hij
heeft een bijzondere interesse in infectieziekten en schreef, samen met een
panel experten, de richtlijnen voor vaccinatie bij patiënten met hematologische
aandoeningen in 2020.
Toine Mercier graduated as a physician from
the faculty of medicine at Leuven University, Belgium, in 2014. In 2020, he
successfully defended his PhD thesis on rapid diagnostic methods for invasive
fungal infections in hematology patients. Currently, he is in his final years
as a resident in hematology at the University Hospitals Leuven, and combines
his clinical training with ongoing post-doctoral research on opportunistic
respiratory infections. He is an active member of several international
infectious disease and hematology societies, and is the secretary of the
Belgian Society of Human and Animal Mycology. He has been recognized as a
Fellow of the Academy of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology for his
work in research and education. His main interests are in supportive care,
invasive fungal infections, diagnostic tools, bioinformatics and data science.
Dr. Eva Oldenburger, M.D., works as a Radiation Oncologist
and a Palliative Care Physician in the
University Hospitals of Leuven. As a Radiation Oncologist she focusses on the
treatment of patients
with breast cancer, both curative and palliative, as well as palliative
patients. As a Palliative Care
physician she primarily works on the palliative ward where there are 12 beds.
Dr. Oldenburger is currently completing her Ph.D. on Patient Reported Outcome
Measures for
patients treated with palliative radiotherapy and its effect on symptoms and
Quality of Life. After her
Ph.D. she hopes to integrate Patient Reported Outcomes and patient-centered
symptom management in standard care in her hospital.
Clinical nurse specialist haematology for 10 years at the University
Hospital Gent. Twenty years ‘ experience in haematology and stem cell
transplantation. She is involved in patient education and follow-up. She works
together with different stakeholders (patient and nurses organizations, nursing
schools…). Guest lecturer in haematology nursing topics, immunocompromised
patient and care for Adolesents and Young Adults (AYA) with cancer. Board
member of the nursing group in the BHS and Care 4AYA vzw. Member of the EBMT
nursing group scientific committee.
Professor Anne Sonet is a clinical
haematologist since 1995. She is responsible of the haematology hospitalisation
unit at the Cliniques Universitaires de Mont-Godinne. By her position, she is
particularly involved in supportive care of critical haematological situations.
I am Jo Storms and I work at the Jessa Hospital for 30 years. My
first four years I worked at the cardiovascular department as a nurse. Since
1995 I work at the hematology department as a nurse with direct patiënt care
and also as a coördinator at the hematology ward. I also worked part time as a
prostate nurse from 2009 until 2018. Since 2009 I am a part time
datamanager for the EBMT (European Society for Blood and Marrow
Transplantation).
I am a nurse specialist in hematology with a special
affinity for stem cell transplantation and donor follow-up within the AZ
Sint-Jan hospital in Bruges.
For more than six years, I have been involved in the
field of the hematology patient. In addition to my job as nurse, it is a
passion of mine to provide the necessary training/ education to others.
I have been a board member of the BHS nurses group since
2015, while being secretary for the last three years.
Gaëlle Vanbutsele (°1985)
is coordinator of the Patient Centred Cancer Care Research Group and postdoctoral
assistant at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Ghent University.
She has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and a PhD degree in (Social)
Health Sciences (2018). Her research has been awarded with different prizes and
been published in high ranking journals including the Lancet Oncology.
Erika Vlieghe has graduated at KU Leuven in 1996. In 1997
she did a postgraduate at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.
Accordingly she worked two years in Oeganda. From 1999-2004 she specialized in general internal medicine. Afterwards she teached at KU Leuven
regarding antibiotic resistance in Cambodia.