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Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer and the third most common form of childhood cancer. Two leading lymphoma oncologists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital—Dr. John P. Leonard and Dr. Owen A. O'Connor—are program chairs for the 2007 North American Educational Forum on Lymphoma, the largest conference in the world dedicated to offering lymphoma patients everything from information on the more than 30 subtypes of the disease to the latest in lymphoma research.

The conference, which takes place Friday, Oct .12, Saturday, Oct .13, and Sunday, Oct. 14, at the New York Marriott in Brooklyn, N.Y., is also chaired by Dr. Ralph Meyer of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group and Queen's University.

Dr. John P. Leonard is chief of the lymphoma/myeloma service, clinical director of the Center for Lymphoma and Myeloma and director of the Hematology Oncology Clinical Research Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Owen A. O'Connor is an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, director of the Lymphoid Development and Malignancy Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center of Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian, and chief of the Lymphoma Service at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia.

Sponsored by the Lymphoma Research Foundation and the Lymphoma Foundation of Canada, the conference is expected to bring more than 500 lymphoma patients, who, in addition to learning about the disease, will be able to participate in organized support networks.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital oncologists presenting at the forum include Dr. Leonard, Dr. O'Connor and Drs. Morton Coleman and Richard R. Furman. Topics include: Follicular Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma (SLL); Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia; Clinical Trials Design and Rationale; Principles of Chemotherapy and Other Agents; New Trends in the Treatment of T-Cell Lymphomas; the Complexities of CLL; Immunologic Techniques in Lymphoma; and Imaging Technologies.

Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system, which includes tissues and organs such as the spleen plus tonsils and lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) and small bean-shaped organs called lymph nodes, which help the body fight infection and disease.

For more information on the forum, patients can visit https://lymphoma.org/.

The study's principal investigator was Dr. Brian G. De Rubertis, a vascular surgery fellow at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Additional co-authors from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons—affiliates of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital—include Dr. James F. McKinsey, Dr. Roman Nowygrod, Dr. Nicholas J. Morrissey, Dr. Alan Weinberg, Dr. Rabih A. Chaer, Dr. John Karwowski, Dr. Harry L. Bush and Matthew Pierce.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital—based in New York City—is the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital, with 2,224 beds. It provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine at five major centers: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavilion and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. It ranks sixth on U.S.News & World Report's guide to "America's Best Hospitals," has the greatest number of physicians listed in New York magazine's "Best Doctors" issue, and is included among Solucient's top 15 major teaching hospitals. The Hospital has academic affiliations with two of the nation's leading medical colleges: Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Weill Cornell Medical College

Cornell University's Medical School located in New York City—is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Weill Cornell, which is a principal academic affiliate of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the teaching of basic and clinical sciences, problem-based learning, office-based preceptorships, and primary care and doctoring courses. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research in such areas as stem cells, genetics and gene therapy, geriatrics, neuroscience, structural biology, cardiovascular medicine, AIDS, obesity, cancer, psychiatry and public health—and continue to delve ever deeper into the molecular basis of disease in an effort to unlock the mysteries behind the human body and the malfunctions that result in serious medical disorders. The Medical College—in its commitment to global health and education—has a strong presence in such places as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Germany and Turkey. With the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical School is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances—from the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer to the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the world's first clinical trial for gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and, most recently, the first indication of bone marrow's critical role in tumor growth. For more information, visit www.med.cornell.edu.

Columbia University Medical Center

Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, nurses, dentists, and public health professionals at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. For more information, visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.