Dear Friends and Fellow Histiophiles,

Bienvenido a Bilbao!

2009 marks an important anniversary for the Histiocyte Society; this year the Society will host its 25^th annual meeting! Program planning for the meeting is well underway and we expect that it will offer both a stimulating scientific program and exciting cultural experiences. We now eagerly await the submission of your abstracts and your participation in the meeting.

As this is the first Society meeting to take place in Spain, we are pleased to announce that Professor Angel Corbi from Madrid will serve as one of the meeting’s keynote speakers. Professor Corbi will discuss his work in Dendritic Cell development and its relationship to LCH. His talk will be accompanied by an update from Dr. Ken McClain about the ongoing studies of LCH pathogenesis that are being conducted in his laboratory at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The meeting’s second keynote speaker will be Dr. Alexei Grom, from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Dr. Grom is an internationally recognized expert on Macrophage Activation syndrome. During his speech Dr. Grom will review recent insights into the pathogenesis of MAS and its close relationship to HLH.

Additionally, Dr. Ron Jaffe from Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital will lead a “Meet the Expert” session in which he addresses confusing and/or provocative histiocytosis scenarios from the pathology perspective. This is a new format for a Society “Meet the Expert” session. Finally, the meeting’s poster sessions will offer a more interactive experience than those of previous years by engaging a number of “experts” within the Society.

Our local host, Dr. Itziar Astigarraga, welcomes us to her beautiful city of Bilbao. Considered the jewel of the Basque country, Bilbao boasts internationally recognized cuisine and a number of exciting cultural attractions. The modern Euskalduna conference center and nearby hotels are within a stone’s throw of the Guggenheim Museum and a number of fine casual dining settings. Bilbao is well known for its bars, many of which serve pintxos (tapas), tzakoli (small glasses of beer) and txikito (small glasses of wine).

I am certain that we will all enjoy and learn from this annual opportunity to meet our international colleagues. I invite you to join me in Bilbao as we continue to explore information and treatments aimed at bettering the lives of our patients with histiocytosis.

Hasta Pronto!

Alexandra Filipovich, M.D.
President, Histiocyte Society