CLINICAL NEWS
trainees to hematology, but also expose
them to the many resources that ASH can
provide, in a more relaxed environment.
For this event, we literally took our
plans for Trainee Day and restructured
everything. We wanted an “open-concept”
event, so when we started to plan the
event, the entire Trainee Council (post-
docs, PhDs, MDs, and MD/PhDs) came
together and asked, “What topics are
pertinent for training?”
What new events are being introduced
with ASH-a-Palooza?
Dr. Boucher: We wanted to rework Trainee
Day in a revolutionary way so that it made
a splash. That starts with the venue: Rather
than being in a large ballroom, it is going to
be at Petco Park. We’ll be outside on the base-
ball field, under the San Diego sunlight, and I
think it will breathe new life into the event.
ASH-a-Palooza is designed like a fes-
tival, and because of this setting, the flow
of the sessions will be different, as well. At-
tendees will have more flexibility and can
come and go as they please, freely moving
between sessions and finding the topics
and speakers that most interest them.
With a broad topic base like this, there will
be something for everybody.
Dr. Isenalumhe: One of the most exciting
new events are the ASH Talks. These are
the ASH version of TED Talks, which
are motivational, interactive, attention-
grabbing, and short. Instead of a
30-minute lecture with slides, the talks
will feature one person describing a topic
in a 20-minute presentation – no podium
and minimal slides. The first ASH Talk
is titled “Why Hematology?” Then, there
are talks about chimeric antigen receptor
T-cell therapies, negotiating your first job,
and self-care for hematologists.
Dr. Boucher: After the ASH Talks, at-
tendees can go to Blood Drops, where
they can find their area of interest and
dive into a topic. This is far-and-away
one of the biggest, most robust changes
that we’ve made to the trainee event.
Again, these are short: Speakers will
either present one slide for 5 minutes, or
20 slides that change automatically every
15 seconds. Each session will be present-
ed twice in a row to allow the audience
to move easily between presentations.
Dr. Isenalumhe: There are a variety of
topics, relevant to every level of trainee.
For medical students, we have talks like
“What is iron-deficiency anemia?” For
fellows, we have talks like “How do you
fix your CV?” For mid-career trainees,
we have talks like “How do you go
from academia to industry?” If you’re
interested in malignant lymphomas,
or sickle cell disease, or adolescent and
young adult cancers, we cover that.
Dr. Boucher: These features are what
make ASH-a-Palooza so exciting –
rather than hundreds of trainees sitting
in a large ballroom, this year’s event
contains talks about specific topics
delivered to smaller groups.
What types of mentorship
opportunities can attendees expect?
Dr. Isenalumhe: There are several
opportunities for trainees to talk one-on-
one with world-renowned hematologists.
Blood Buddies is a mentor-mentee
version of speed-dating. Trainees sit
with an experienced hematologist for 5
minutes and can ask any question they
want, whether it’s about career decisions
or a challenging clinical case. Normally,
it might be difficult for younger trainees
to have that type of access, so it’s exciting
that so many ASH annual meeting
speakers want to be part of this event
and help trainees.
Dr. Boucher: Blood Buddies is a reimag-
ining of the ASH lunches, during which
a dozen trainees sat at a table with one
senior hematologist. Unfortunately,
there was a limited amount of time to
ask questions and a limited number of
speakers to sit down with. Depending
on one’s comfort level, that might not
have been the best setting for a fulfilling
conversation with a mentor. We hope
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