LRF Workshops

As you may know, lately I've become a fan of workshops put on by the Lymphoma Research Foundation. I think they are especially helpful for newly diagnosed patients, but great for all of us (including those who were diagnosed almost 15 years ago, like me). And best of all, they are free and done online.

The LRF offers a bunch of different types of educational programs -- "Ask the Doctor" sessions, workshops and webinars. But there are two that I think look especially promising and helpful that I want to highlight.

The first is the LRF Virtual Midwest Lymphoma Workshop. This one will take place on Saturday, September 24, and will feature speakers from some excellent cancer hospitals in the midwestern U.S. There are some general sessions about lymphoma, CAR-T, Covid-19 -- things like that which would appeal to all of us. But for me, the big attraction is that they break out and do a dozen different sessions for specific diseases, including two separate sessions on Follicular Lymphoma -- one for newly diagnosed patients and one for relapsed/refractory patents. To me, that's a sign that these folks know what they are doing. They recognize that there are very different needs for these groups.

There's also a session on Lymphoma Survivorship -- dealing with life after treatment. The speaker is Dr. Carrie Thompson. I've head her speak on this topic before -- she's fantastic. 

The other one is kind of similar: LRF's 27th Annual North American Educational Forum on Lymphoma, October 28-30. It's similar in that there are lots of the same topics, but it's a 3 day event, so there will be even more, and in more depth. One of the things I'm looking forward to with this event is that there is a little more time to discuss research (yes, I'm still a Cancer Nerd). There's lots of focus on providing basic information, and on living with specific types of lymphoma, including FL, but there's also time to get into things like immunotherapy, biomarker research, and oral therapies. A lot of that comes in breakout sessions, meaning there is a choice of 4 or 5 different topics, so you can't go to all at once. It will require some choosing. But it will be great anyway. Lots of excellent speakers at this one, too.

I hope some of you can find time to attend one or both of these events. And if not, I encourage you to keep an eye on the LRF events page for something else that might be useful.