Release Date: April 15, 2019
Expiration Date: April 15, 2020

Expected time to complete this activity as designed: 60 minutes

There are no fees for participating in or receiving credit for this online activity.

Program Overview

This activity will address several practice-related issues regarding the management of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Nurses who provide direct patient care may encounter many different hematologic malignancies throughout their day. Consequently, they may face the challenge of remaining current on treatment and monitoring approaches for myelodysplastic syndromes. In this text-based activity, four expert faulty provide the background and insights needed to properly manage this patient population. Topics include accurate risk assessment, iron chelation, managing anemia, and understanding future directions in therapy.

Target Audience

This activity is designed for nurses in the community setting who provide care to patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this educational activity, participants should be able to:

• Incorporate the IPSS-R into treatment decision-making in patients with MDS
• Describe the efficacy and safety of therapies used for iron chelation therapy in patients with MDS
• Describe treatment issues related to chronic anemia in patients with RBC transfusion dependence
• Review emerging targeted therapies and their possible role in the treatment of MDS

Agenda

Prognostic Risk Assessment in MDS: Incorporating the IPSS-R into Practice – Rami S. Komrokji, MD

Preventing, Diagnosing, and Treating Iron Overload in MDS – Azra Raza, MD

Anemia in Low-risk MDS: Current Treatment and Trials in Progress – Steven D. Gore, MD

The Future of Targeted Therapy in MDS – Shannon R. McCurdy, MD

Instructions for Participation and Credit

This activity is eligible for credit through April 15, 2020. After this date, this activity will expire and no further credit will be awarded.

1. Read the target audience, learning objectives, and faculty disclosures.
2. You may be asked to complete a short pre-test before accessing the educational content. This must be completed in order to move forward in the activity.
3. Complete the educational content as designed.
4. Complete the post-test. To receive a certificate, you must receive a passing score of 70%.
5. Complete the activity evaluation survey to provide feedback and information useful for future programming.
6. Certificates for CNE may be printed immediately after successfully completing the post-test and activity evaluation.

Faculty Biographies

Steven D. Gore, MD 
Professor of Internal Medicine, Section of Hematology
Yale University
Director of Hematologic Malignancies
Yale Cancer Center/Yale-New Haven Hospital
New Haven, Connecticut

Dr. Steven Gore has been a leader in drug development in myeloid malignancies, focusing on the optimization of putatively epigenetically targeted agents, and understanding of their mechanism of action. He served on the oncology faculty at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies from 1990 through 2013. Since 2013 he has directed Hematologic Malignancies at the Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital. He serves on the NCI Leukemia Steering Committee and is co-chair of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Natural History Study.

Rami S. Komrokji, MD
Professor of Medicine and Oncologic Sciences
University of South Florida College of Medicine
Vice Chair, Malignant Hematology Department
Moffitt Cancer Center
Tampa, Florida

Dr. Rami Komrokji received his medical degree from Jordan University School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency at Case Western University, St. Vincent Program. He then completed a fellowship at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester in hematology/oncology and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Dr. Komrokji is Professor of Medicine & Oncologic Sciences (MOS) at the College of Medicine at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Vice Chair of the Malignant Hematology Department, and the head of the Leukemia and MOS Section at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa. In addition, he is a senior member of the Malignant Hematology and Experimental Therapeutics Program at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

Dr. Komrokji has authored or co-authored more than 175 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 20 book chapters, and more than 300 abstracts in hematologic malignancies. He serves as member on the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). He was a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Clinical Oncology and is peer reviewer for several medical journals including Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Leukemia.

Dr. Komrokji’s interests are in phase I and II clinical trials, and in outcomes research in hematologic malignancies with a focus on myeloid neoplasms. His clinical interests are MDS, acute leukemias, and myeloproliferative neoplasms.

Shannon R. McCurdy, MD 
Assistant Professor
Department of Hematology Oncology
Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dr. Shannon McCurdy received her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She was an intern and resident in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and completed her clinical and research fellowships in oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and was previously an Assistant Professor at Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. McCurdy holds American Board of Internal Medicine certification in internal medicine and medical oncology. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. She has served as an abstract reviewer and/or moderator at annual meetings including American Society of Hematology and the Tandem Meetings of ASBMT and CIBMTR. Dr. McCurdy has published her original research in Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Biology of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Haematologica, Leukemia, and Blood Advances. Dr. McCurdy is a reviewer for the American Journal of Hematology, Biology of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Clinical Chemistry, and Blood, among others. Her current research is on optimizing treatment strategies for older patients with hematologic malignancies with a special focus on allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation.

Azra Raza, MD
Professor of Medicine
Director, MDS Center
Columbia University Medical Center
New York, New York

Dr. Azra Raza completed her medical education in Pakistan, trained in internal medicine at the University of Maryland, Franklin Square Hospital, and Georgetown/VA Medical Center in Washington, DC, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. She is the Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine and Director of the MDS Center at Columbia University in New York. Previously, she was the Chief of Hematology/Oncology and the Gladys Smith Martin Professor of Oncology at the University of Massachusetts.

An international authority on pre-leukemia (MDS) and acute leukemia, Dr. Raza is one of those rare physician-scientists who divides her time equally between caring for patients and supervising a state-of-the-art basic research lab which is funded by grants. She started collecting blood and marrow samples on her patients in 1984, and now her Tissue Bank, the largest and oldest in the country with more than 60,000 samples, is considered a unique national treasure. Dr. Raza has published hundreds of original clinical and basic research peer-reviewed manuscripts in journals including Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, Molecular Cell, Cancer Research, Blood, and Leukemia. In addition, she has published more than 1,000 abstracts, dozens of book chapters, and edited a book devoted to MDS.

Dr. Raza is a sought-after speaker in scientific circles and the recipient of numerous awards including The Hope Award in Cancer Research 2012. She was named as one of the 100 Women Who Matter by Newsweek Pakistan. She is also a member of the Founder Group designing breakthrough developments in science and technology, and the Cancer Moonshot initiative.

Accreditation

NURSING CREDIT Accreditation Statement: MediCom Worldwide, Inc., 101 Washington Street, Morrisville, PA 19067 is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP11380. MediCom designates this CNE activity for 1.0 contact hour. Program Number: 19-012-103

Disclosure

As an organization accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and California State Board of Registered Nursing, MediCom Worldwide, Inc. requires everyone who is in a position to control the content of an educational activity to disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest. The ACCME defines “relevant financial relationships” as financial relationships in any amount, occurring within the past 12 months, including financial relationships of a spouse or life partner, that could create a conflict of interest. Accordingly, the following disclosures were made.

Faculty Disclosures

Dr. Steven Gore has received honoraria as a consultant from AbbVie Inc., Celgene Corporation, Kyowa Kirin Pharmaceutical Development, Inc., and Tolero Pharmaceuticals. He has received grant support related to research activities from Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Celgene.

Dr. Rami Komrokji has received honoraria as a consultant from Celgene Corporation and Incyte Corporation, as well as speakers’ bureau activities from Novartis AG.

Dr. Shannon McCurdy has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Dr. Azra Raza has received honoraria related to speakers’ bureau activities from Novartis AG. She has received grant support related to research activities from Celgene Corporation.

Planning Committee Disclosures

The individuals listed below from MediCom Worldwide, Inc. reported the following for this activity: Kristin Burke, Project Manager, and Joan Meyer, RN, MHA, Executive Director, have no relevant financial relationships.

Peer Reviewer Disclosure

In accordance with MediCom Worldwide, Inc. policy, all content is reviewed by external independent peer reviewers for balance, objectivity and commercial bias. The peer reviewers have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this activity, please contact MediCom Worldwide, Inc. at 1-800-408-4242 or email us at lisa@medicaled.com.

Provided by MediCom Worldwide, Inc.
This activity is supported by educational grants from Celgene Corporation and Onconova Therapeutics, Inc.

©2019 MediCom Worldwide, Inc., 101 Washington St., Morrisville, PA 19067, 800-408-4242.
No portion of this material may be copied or duplicated without the expressed permission of MediCom Worldwide, Inc.