Chronic GVHD: Intersecting Aspects in Systemic and Ocular Disease

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Abstract: Chronic ocular GVHD (oGVHD) has been recognized as an important complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and is the leading cause of long-term morbidity and mortality following allogeneic HSCT. The proposed meeting entitled “Chronic GVHD: Intersecting aspects in systemic and ocular disease” will address a difficulty that is intrinsic in the area of dry eye and ocular surface disease due to chronic ocular GVHD - the difficulty in disseminating information and developing new management strategies in a fast-changing discipline (science and clinical treatment of ocular GVHD) where the stakeholders come from multiple disparate pools (clinician, clinical trainees and researchers in ophthalmology, hematology, oncology and immunology). This meeting is devoted to the intersection between ophthalmologist and hematologists/oncologists working in the areas of chronic GVHD and dry eye/ocular surface disease. By bringing together clinicians and scientists from different disciplines, including nationally recognized experts, this meeting will lower the communication barrier and promote interdisciplinary research and education and facilitate improvements in the management of patients with chronic ocular GVHD. We conducted the second Chronic GVHD Meeting on October 22, 2016 at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine (COM) learning center. We propose to model future meetings (2017-2022) on the successful format of the 2016 meeting. The overall objective of this grant application is to request support for aspects of the annual meeting for the next 5-year period for achieving three aims. To stimulate clinical and translational interdisciplinary collaborations and new lines of research, the meeting will bring together nationally recognized experts (hematologist/oncologists and ophthalmologists) for disseminating new findings in the area of chronic systemic and ocular GVHD (Aim 1). To stimulate inter-institutional and interdisciplinary opportunities in research, clinical practice and education, the meeting will bring together five bone marrow transplant programs and six ophthalmology departments in the Chicago area to discuss differences in their approach to HSCT and chronic GVHD management and impediments/opportunities in clinical and research collaborations (Aim 2). To increase collaboration amongst junior and senior scientists in the fields of hematology/oncology and ophthalmology, 20 travel awards will be made to increase the participation of clinicians who are pursuing research career development and early stage basic science researchers in the areas of ocular surface disease and GVHD (Aim 3). Preference will be given to women, racial/ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities. The Chronic GVHD meeting has been planned in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) under the sponsorship of University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The scope and format of the meeting is unique and very different from the small instruction courses or consensus meetings on chronic ocular GVHD held in the past 3 years.