The third meeting of SOHO Israel and 9th International Davidoff conference, titled State of the Art and Next Questions, was held on May 15-16, 2025, at the ANU-Museum of the Jewish People at Tel Aviv University and at the Port Tower Hotel in Tel Aviv University.
The meeting had 458 attendees registered, which included in-person and virtual. Participants included both Israeli hematologists and an international audience composed of researchers and industry.
The conference kicked off with opening remarks to a packed hall by Hagop Kantarjian, MD, chair of the Department of Leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. This was followed by welcoming remarks from the Rabin Medical Center director, the Dean of the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the Tel-Aviv University, and members of the Davidoff family who donated and support the Davidoff Cancer Center.
The scientific program included 34 lectures given by 33 speakers over two days. Session topics included chronic lymphocytic leukemia, plasma cell dyscrasias, acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, quality of life in hematological disorders, myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic disorders, chronic myeloid leukemia, cellular therapy, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Kantarjian and Pia Raanani, MD, head of the Institute of Hematology at the Davidoff Cancer Center in the Rabin Medical Center.
“Many people keep telling me it’s the leading educational meeting in Israel in hematology,” said Dr. Raanani after the event. “Colleagues say we managed to bring SOHO to Israel, especially to our more peripheral hospitals that travel less to the big conferences. This made me feel good because that is exactly the goal of SOHO as I understand it—to spread the tremendous hematological knowledge of MD Anderson worldwide.”
Several invited speakers were forced to participate virtually due to unforeseen flight cancellations to Tel Aviv by some airlines related to the conflict in Gaza.
“Five speakers were supposed to come physically but due to the foreign airlines’ cancellations … only one speaker, Richard Stone, arrived physically,” Dr. Raanani said.
However, thanks to excellent technical support, the lectures were able to proceed over the internet without incident.
“The lectures were fascinating, the food was excellent, the atmosphere positive and pleasant,” one attendee said. “And the impressive attendance, both in the hall and virtually, only added to the feeling of a distinguished and meaningful event.”
SOHO Israel is part of the SOHO Ambassador Program, which appoints experts from around the world to represent the society in their geographic regions. Ambassadors share local developments in hematologic oncology with SOHO and promote its educational resources within their communities. Visit soho.click/donate to support the SOHO Ambassador program.
