The first School of Hematology of ISH in collaboration with a National Hematology Society (Turkish Society of Hematology, TSH) has been organized as the "ISH-TSH School of Hematology on Benign Hematological Disorders", on 22-24 December 2017, in Antalya, Turkey.
Benign hematological disorders are not emphasized much in general hematology meetings and as the work load of practicing hematologists are mostly on malignant disorders they devote less time to benign disorders, unless they are primarily working on these. Therefore we have focused this first ISH School to be on Benign Hematological Disorders.
The Course Syllabus (all the lectures included, total of 52 pages) and the Scientific Program are available on the ISH Website (www.ishworld.org).
There were 3 speakers from EAD countries including Israel, Lebanon and Egypt, in addition to 15 Turkish speakers as the Faculty. A total of 78 applications were received through announcements on ISH Website and by contacting National Hematology Societies in EAD:
Applications from EAD Countries:
Nigeria (35),
Turkey (26)
Egypt (8),
Saudi Arabia (2),
Lithuania (2),
Lebanon (1)
Albania (1)
Sudan (1)
Ethiopia (1)
Outside EAD:
India (1)
Pakistan (2)
All Turkish participants were fully sponsored by the Turkish Society of Hematology (TSH).
The participants from abroad and all speakers were supported by ISH. The foreign participants were partially supported by the unrestricted educational grants obtained from the pharmaceutical companies. However, due to difficulties in obtaining sufficient support from the sponsors, we had to restrict the number of participants from abroad. However some of these selected participants were not able to pay their flight tickets or had unexpected visa problems. Full support was given to one Nigerian junior hematologist.
Eventually, there were 26 participants from Turkey, 2 from Nigeria, 1 from Saudi Arabia and 1 from Lebanon, all of whom were fellows in adult or pediatric hematology.
As for the speakers, Prof. Chaim Hershko (Israel) and Prof. Miguel Abboud (Lebanon) had very important contributions, not limited with their lectures. Unfortunately, Prof. Amal El Beshlawy (Egypt) was not able to attend due to a last minute problem.
All of the scientific presentations were very comprehensive, up-to-date, highly educational and excellent. We have taken the feedback of the participants and all were happy with the selection of the topics, scientific content, faculty, time given for each topic and time given to the school as a whole. There were some comments about adding a few more topics (such as ITP and vWD) in the forthcoming courses.
All participants expressed their happiness and fulfillment for having such a course with close contact with the faculty and each other. Being a small group has helped them for productive interactions between the participants and the faculty, which was one of our aims in the ISH School. They also asked about the future ISH Courses.
In summary we can say that this course has been very successful and has helped to fill a gap in the knowledge of the fellows and trainees.
We highly suggest that a similar course (with the same topics, perhaps with a few changes) can be organized by the other divisions of ISH, in collaboration with National Hematology Societies.
This initiative can even be a tradition or a "new brand'' of ISH, if organized on regular basis.
We also believe that if an ISH School is announced and preparations start early enough, more grant support can be obtained from potential sponsors.
We greatly appreciate very kind support and excellent collaboration of the Turkish Society of Hematology (TSH).
Sabri Kemahlı,M.D. and Muzaffer Demir, M.D.
Coordinators of ISH-TSH School of Hematology
Emin Kansu,M.D.,FACP
ISH Chair of Council