SOHO 2026 Friday plenary features NIH scientist and aplastic anemia expert Dr. Neal S. Young. The plenary will take place at 1:47 pm Central time on September 11 in the General Assembly.
The final plenary at the SOHO 2026 Annual Meeting will feature Neal S. Young, MD, whose research has shaped the modern treatment of aplastic anemia and advanced the understanding of immune-mediated bone marrow failure.
“Dr. Neal Young is one of the deepest thinkers in hematology,” said Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, who will be introducing Dr. Young during Friday’s plenary session. “His work has transformed our understanding and treatment of aplastic anemia and other bone marrow failures. He has also trained a generation of work leaders in research and care of these disorders. It will be an honor to learn from him at SOHO.”
A senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Young helped establish immunosuppressive therapy as the standard treatment for severe aplastic anemia and later demonstrated the benefit of adding the thrombopoietin receptor agonist eltrombopag to the standard therapy at the time. His work has directly improved survival for patients with a rare disease that was once almost uniformly fatal.
Incoming SOHO President Valeria Santini, MD, said the plenary will appeal well beyond clinicians who specialize in aplastic anemia. Understanding how the immune system disrupts normal blood formation can inform research into other bone marrow disorders, including myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia.
“Aplastic anemia is a model of immune dysregulation,” she said. “All of our hematologic malignancies involve alterations of the immune system, but in this disease, immune dysfunction is the primary pathogenic event. We can all learn by understanding what is happening in the bone marrow of patients with aplastic anemia.”
Dr. Young is chief of the Hematology Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute within the NIH. He has received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to hematology and bone marrow failure research. According to his NIH biography, he has published almost 300 research articles, more than 100 reviews and book chapters, and has written or edited 10 monographs, including a textbook on hematology.
According to the NIH, his current laboratory projects include gene editing and single-cell RNA sequencing to investigate bone marrow failure disorders, along with studies of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, immune-mediated marrow failure, and the effects of sex hormones on bone marrow cells.
For attendees, the plenary offers an opportunity to hear from one of the investigators whose work has influenced the field for decades.
“[Dr.] Young has a philosophical view of science that not many people have,” Dr. Santini said. “Listening to him is really an experience.”
Leah Sherwood is the Editorial Director of SOHO Insider.
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