Workshop on 'Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease'

Workshop on 'Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease' at PGI Chandigarh

Sky Hawk Times

S.A.S.Nagar, 4th November

The Department of Haematology, PGIMER, Chandigarh in collaboration with the USCF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland, USA is hosting the Indo-US Bilateral Workshop on 'Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease' on November 5-6, 2016. These hemoglobin diseases have a significant prevalence in Punjab and other northern Indian states.Currently, these patients require lifelong blood transfusions and treatment of iron overload, resulting in shortened life spans. The Hematology department has for long been engaged in diagnosis, research and patient management of these serious blood diseases.

Several international experts on hemoglobin disorders, including Dr. Nancy Olivieri from Toronto, Prof. Bertram Lubin, Dr. Elliott Vichinsky, Dr. Henry Erlich, Dr. Titi Singer, Dr. Mark Walters, Dr. Franciscus Kuyper, Dr. Carolyn Hoppe, Dr. Marsha Treadwell and Dr. Cassandra Calloway from Oakland, Dr. Punam Malik from Cincinnati, Dr. Lakshmanan Krishnamurti from Atlanta, Dr. Ravindra Sarode from Texas, Dr. Robert Yamashita from San Marcos and Dr. Md. Selimuzzaman from Dhaka will be delivering talks on various aspects of thalassemia and sickle cell disease diagnosis and patient care. Joining them will be many prominent Indian experts like Dr. Kanjaksha Ghosh, Dr. Roshan Colah, Dr. Alok Srivastava, Dr. RV Shaji, Dr. Prantar Chakrabarti  and Dr. Dipty Jain.

The Organizing Chairpersons are Prof. Neelam Varma from Chandigarh and Prof. Bertram Lubin from USA and the Organizing Secretaries are Prof. Reena Das from Chandigarh and Dr. Ashutosh Lal from Oakland. The meeting plan includes topics of cutting edge relevance in the field. Over 200 delegates are coming from all over India and neighbouring countries for this meeting. There will also be a joint session with the Thalassemia Children Welfare Association members and the families of affected persons.